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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyright No.. 

Shelf _J^U. 
J$E 

UNiTED STATES OF AMERICA. 



I 



£S£^2g£ 




Dr. WM 



STARR, 



Aged Eighty Five Years, 

President of Botanical School of Medicine 

of the United States. 

Now in perfectly good health, has taken no 

other medicine except that prepared by 

himself, since he was fourteen 

years of age. 



* * * * • 

MEDICAL BOTANY 

OE 

SPECIFIC REMEDIES 

FEOM 

NATURE'S OWN CURES. 



* DEFENDING * 

BOTANIC PRACTICE 

• OF * 

MEDICINE. 



To TJ. S. CONGRESS. 

FOURTH EDITIO/N?^ tftf™IGHT ^ 




^ifiS^y^ 



• DR. WM. M. STARR, • 

President of the Botanical Association of U. S. A., 



WAS HINGTON, I ) . G. 
18 9 5. 



* 



9^ 



R v 



V 



i 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year of 1895. 

By Dr. Wm. M. ST-A.KJR. 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



Z3HZZ^HffEEHEZEEEEH^ 



* * ¥ * * 

IN DRFENGR 

OF 

MEDICAL BOTANT, 

BY 

* DR. WM. M. STARR, • 

President of the Botanical Association of the 
United States of America. 

709 G Street, Northwest, 

WASHINGTON, D. G. 
1 895. ^<r^ 



Price, 25 Cents. 






* 



EjgaZEgHSS^.rfi^^ 



BECKERT &. McCURDY, PRS ., 512 E ST., Washington, D. C. 



RXPLANATION, 



To prevent any misunderstanding, I wish to 
state that in writing this book I have no malice or 
ill-feeling personally against any one of the medi 
cal profession or any medical school in this or any 
other country. I am writing this book only for 
the purpose of claiming fairness and justice, I 
simply claim what I believe is fair and just bet- 
ween man and man. I want to do what is best for 
all the people of my country, and that equal rights 
oe accorded to the Botanical as well as Allopathic 
and Homeopathic Doctors, and special privileges 
to no particular cla$s ©r school whatsoever. 

As I am writing this book in self defense, I claim 
the right to strike hard in defence of our rights in 
the practice- of medicine under all laws, and to 
strike hard to secure and maintain our rights. The 
practice of medicine in its present form is not a 
science, far from it, it is only a bad abused bus- 
iness, if there is any profession in the world which 
ought to b© carried on carefully and conscienci- 



4 

ously, it is that of administering medicine, which 
is not the case, it is tfie most reckless carried on 
business in the world, and in its present form it 
has neither science, philosophy, common sense or 
success. 

There is another point I wish to mention, the 
constant complaint to the law making powers that 
something is wrong in the practice of medicine, 
without showing where the wrong lies but leaving 
the impression that the fault lies with us, which is 
not true, and are asking for protection against us. 

As I stated before I write this book only in self 
defense, without any illfeeling or malice towards 
any person on earth, and pray that I may do good 
to all and harm to none, and I want to show that 
Botany was first of all medicines and is the only 
true principle in the Medical kingdom, it com- 
menced with the beginning of time. 

I request the reader to give this book his un- 
divided attention. 

Dr. WM. M. STAEE, 

President of Botanical School of U. 8. A. 



• 

*** 
• 



CHAPTER I. 

Restrictive Medical Legislation. 

Medical legislation is a subject but little thought of 
and little understood by the American people, and 
hence it is the imperative duty of those who have 
made a disinterested study of the subject, to explain 
its origin, its animus and its results to those who have 
heard only the cunning misrepresentations of interested 
parties, who, never daring to discuss the subject 
publicly, have in the clandestine methods of the lob- 
byist, diffused the not very plausible story that the 
people need to be protected by the government against 
the consequences of their own folly, and that the only 
protection that is efficient is to place them under the 
guardianship of collegiate corporations, with the ex- 
clusive privilege of admitting men into the medical 
profession, and prescribing what they shall do to their 
patients, and how they may crush their rivals in practice. 

To protect the people from the exercise of their 
sovereign will by denying them the right of choosing 
their physicians, is not quite a plausible proposition it 
itself, but it is reinforced by the suggestion that medi- 
cine is a profound science — that its best representatives 
are the college faculties, and that all who attempt to 
treat the sick without the instruction which colleges 
only can give, must be prima facie fraudulent pre- 
tenders whose operations ought to be restrained by 



6 

law, like those of any other fraudulent class. They 
ignore the fact that the fraudulent class are often 
sheltered by diplomas, and that the'class they denounce 
often stand high in public opinion. 

As there is not a word of truth in this talk of the 
lobby, it is never presented in any place where it can 
be publicly refuted before an audience, or before the 
readers of an impartial journal. Falsehoods which 
have manly defenders are entitled to some respect, but 
those who dare not meet the truth are entitled to none 
— nor are the lobbyists who use such methods entitled 
to any courtesy. 

There is not an argument in behalf of the medical 
legislation of the last ten years that will bear a mo- 
mentary examination. When a legislature gives a 
monopoly to one class of colleges and its graduates, 
it is 

Licensing Quackery. 

Really, this demand for legislation in behalf of 
medical colleges is a self-confessed fraud at its very 
origin; for the Medical school, called Allopathic, 
has done its best to exclude and proscribe the Homeo- 
pathic and Botanic sects, and they recognize the 
school domination as a social calamity; and it is this 
Allopathic school, or rather, its most unsuccessful, 
but ambitious, hungry and impecunious members, that 
have been so busy in procuring legislation to protect 
college graduates from free competition, which . is es- 
sential to progress. 



This school of Allopathists was transplanted 
bodily and unchanged from the realms of the Old 
World despotism, never Americanized in the least, 
and still bending the knee to European authority in 
preference to American experience. 

It has striven to crush the more liberal parties by 
refusiug collegiate charters, or by excluding them 
from all honorable positions. It is not the entire 
medical profession, hut its intriguing demagogues, who 
have pursued this course. Unable to crush liberalism 
the party of medical legislation seeks to devastate all 
the vast territory of freedom out of which formidable 
rivals have arisen, and out of which they see uprising 
the phantom form of the medical science of the future, 
which is destined to be organized into medical colleges 
of the entire healing art, Medical Botany. 



Qualified Doctors Come Before Colleges. 

The early physicians of this republic in colonial and 
post-colonial times were private students, who never 
attended colleges, but were not inferior on that ac- 
count, for faithful private study and tuition are often 
better than collegiate teaching. My own father was 
one of the private non-collegiate students in the last 
century, and was chosen to a medical professorship in 
a school which had a distinguished career. 

Indeed, I believe if we had never had a medical 
college corporation, nor a diploma conferring pretended 
legal rights, the condition of the medical profession 



8 

under private independent teaching and authorship 
would have been better than it is to-day, for it would 
have been advanced by the same free competition 
which has in all other things made American progress 
so remarkable. Medical teaching would have been 
far more efficient, for 

None But The Gifted And Pre-Eminent 

would have had pupils, and the dull, incompetent men 
who are forced upon medical students by a college cor- 
poration would have dropped out of sight to their 
proper level. 

This Suppression of Free Thought is a Social 

Calamity, 
which their graduates are now trying to inflict upon 
the entire country by making the college diploma the 
charter of supreme authority over the people. 

Could the State commit a greater folly than to hand 
over and surrender the club of legal coercion to such 
aproscriptive party, to be used for the benefit of pro- 
scriptive colleges ? 

It was from Austria and Germany that we had the 
greatest rebellion ever known against medical college 
authority, and the government did not interfere, but 
left an open field and a fair fight between native 
genius and pedantic learning, and native genius 
triumphed. 

All these bills in every State are nothing more than 
bills to compel the people to employ men in whom 
they have no confidence, or men whom they consider 



9 

quacks, while the body of skillful and successful 
physicians do not need any such protection, do not ask 
for it. 

One may receive an obnoxious clergyman without 
accepting his theology, but he who accepts an obnox- 
ious physician must swallow his obnoxious medicine. 
The soul's welfare is not imperilled by what we hear, 
but the welfare and life of the body depends upon the 
physician. A community that submits to dictation in 
its medical treatment has either very little intelligence 
on such subjects, or very little of the spirit of liberty. 
The blow of medical despotism is aimed at the in- 
dependent physicians, but falls upon the entire com- 
munity. 

They Use a Language Which Few of them 

Understand, 
a barbarous, dog Latin, by means of which many 
dangerous and fatal mistakes have been made, but 
which mystifies the patient and gratifies the vanity and 
secretiveness of the doctor. 

Now There May be Some Unprincipled Doc- 
tors Base Enough 
to hate the man who has cured the patient they have 
abandoned to die, but is it not a strange perversion of 
the functions of government, that the State should 
help such men to glut their revenge upon others for 
being more skilful and more benevolent, should 
actually become the ally of quackery ? Such a law, if 
properly labelled, would be styled, "An act to pre- 



10 

vent competition, to promote quackery, and to protect 
professional ignorance and imbecility." 

Prolong this freedom, out of which arose those 
blessings to mankind, the Botanic practice, and we 
shall see uprising from the ample resources of Ameri- 
can genius 

A Still Greater Blessing to Mankind Than 
These, 
a deeper, broader and higher conception of man and 
his mysterious life, its order, its disorder and its re- 
medies. I do not speak from the vague hope of an 
optimist, but of things that may be demonstrated, and 
are being demonstrated, to the most advanced minds. 
When toe face the question of medical legislation, we 
have on the one hand, equal justice to all, — recognition 
of the rights of the citizen and unlimited medical pro- 
gress, — on the other, restriction of progress, oppression 
of the citizen, and persecution of the men who give life 
to the dying and cure the so-called incurable, for this 
malignant law has no reference to right or wrong — to 
well doing or ill doing. It is made as much a crime 
to cure a patient as to kill him. 



A Protest Against Medical Monopoly. 



To the Senate and House of Representatives, in Con- 
gress Assembled : 
We, the Botanical Schools of Medicine, desire to 
enter our protest against Senate bills 2352 and 2396, 



11 

Fifty-first Congress, first session, and all similar bills 
which may be introduced. 

The bills referred to, announce it as their purpose 
to regulate the practice of medicine in the District of 
Columbia, by placing in the hands of a board of medi- 
cal men the power to limit at will the practice of medi- 
cine to such persons as this board may choose to grant 
permits or licenses to. They are clearly in the in- 
terest of certain classes of medical men, granting them 
special privileges in violation of the Constitutional 
rights of other physicians and of all other citizens. 

There are quite a number of sects in medicine, as 
there are in religion. 

The bills named, provide for giving two sects, "the 
Allopathic and Homeopathic," the power to monopolize 
the practice of medicine in this District, to the 
exclusion of all other sects, and to place in their 
hands the power to enforce their special class privilege 
by fines and imprisonment against members of the 
medical profession, who belong to schools not re- 
presented in the board of examiners. 

The doctrine of the renowned Swiss empyric, Para- 
celsus who, in 1626, burned the works of Galen, the, 
Botanist, and founded a new medical sect on the Allo- 
pathic dogma, "the way to cure one disease is to 
create another of a different sort" — and therefore, the 
most powerful poisons are the most potent medicines, 
is not sound in theroy nor successful in practice, and 
is therefor false and destructive, being so heretical as 
to deserve no quarter from good orthodox doctors. If 



12 

this sect which founded hundreds of years ago, now 
assumes by virtue of age and numbers to be regular, 
i. e., orthodox, could sustain such a claim, then there 
would be no need of statutes to protect them against 
the competitions of the physicians of other and older 
sects. But if such claim could be sustained, it would 
still be a violation of the genius of our institutions to 
pass laws giving them a monopoly. 

The people have a perfect right to employ "quacks" 
if they want to do so, or to take patent medicines, or 
to rely on nature, refusing to be dosed by anybody. 
But their claim of perfection is not set up by any in- 
telligent Allopathic physician, and if it were, it would 
be not only false but ridiculous. Instead of claiming 
perfection the leading men of that school are on record 
as having pronounced its theories false, and its prac- 
tice empirical and dangerous. 

We quote briefly from some of the most renowned 
and honored Allopathic physicians of this country and 
Europe, opinions of their own creed and system of 
practice. 

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes says : 

"It would be better for men, but worse for the 
fishes, if all medicines were poured into the sea." 

Professor Gregory, of Edinburgh College, says : 

' ' Ninety-nine out of every hundred medical facts 
are medical lies." 
Dr. Magendie says : 
" Medicine is a great humbug." 



13 

Dr. Alexander M. Ross, F. R. S., of London, says : 
"The medical practice of to-day has no more founda- 
tion in science, in philosophy, or in common sense, 
than it had one hundred years ago. It is still based 

On conjecture." 

Dr. Willard Parker, of New York, says : 

" As we place more confidence in nature, and less in 
medicines, mortality diminishes." 

Dr. Alonzo Clark, of New York, says : 

" Physicians hurry thousands to their graves who 
would have recovered, if left to nature." 

Sir Astley Cooper says : ♦ 

The system of medicine is founded on conjecture, 
and improved by murder." 

Dr. Evans of London, says : 

" The so-called science of medicine has neither 
philosophy nor common sense to commend it to con- 
fidence." 

Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the De- 
claration of Independence, said : 

"The physician is like a blind man striking at 
random. If he hits the disease he kills it, but he is 
full as likely to hit the patient, and kill it. We 
(physicians) have multiplied diseases, and increased 
their mortality." 

He further said: "The conferring of exclusive 
priviliges upon bodies of physicians, and forbiding 
men of equal talents under penalities from practicing 
medicine, are inquistions, however sanctioned by an- 



14 

cient charters, and names serving as the Bastiles of 
our science." 

Mr. Speaker, 

I will refer to one historical fact. Before the Bo- 
tanical Library was burnt by a " King of Terror" in 
1626, there was no monopoly in medicine whatsoever, 
and they were composed of Botanical preparations, 
gathered by the skillful farmers and their wives fresh 
from the field where the oats, beans and barley grew. 

Ever since Botanical medicines were forced out of 
general use by this cruel edict, and the dogma pro- 
claimed that poisons are the proper medicines to be 
used, the death rate has increased. Up to that time 
men were strong and lived long, since that time they 
have become weaker, and mortality has increased 
rapidly until the average has fallen to the low rate of 
about sixteen years and ten months. 

We therefore ask that the American system of free 
competition in medicine, as in religion, shall be en- 
forced and that no legislation be had which shall limit 
the freedom of the people. 

The Bill which we have offered in favor of the 
Botanical Practice is supported by the farmers and a 
large majority of our citizens. It is perfectly fair, 
honest, just, neighborly, constitutional, and in accord 
with our system of government, and the Patent Laws 
and common justice. We do not propose to interfere 
with others at all. We want no new laws passed, in 
our favor, or any of the old laws repealed or amended. 



15 

All we ask is to be placed equally under the laws al- 
ready passed as our Bill plainly sets forth. 

The Bills which have been passed by the Legisla- 
tures of certain states and which are now sought to be 
passed by Congress for the District of Columbia, to 
give the monopoly to a certain school of physicians to 
the exclusion of all other schools of medicine, to 
prevent the people from choosing those physicians of 
other schools of equal talent whom they may prefer to 
attend them when sick, is unprofessional, an insult 
to the common people of the United States, and is 
without a speck ©f manly or common justice in it. It 
strikes at the root of our liberties. It is tyranical, 
monarchical, revolutionary, and unconstitutional. It 
is irreligious and anti-republican. The people want 
no such law. 

We have thousands of native geniuses and skillful 
botanical doctors in the United States, supported by 
three-fourths of the farmers and common people of the 
country in this domineering and dangerous issue. For 
the sake of common justice give equal chance under all 
laws as substantially set forth in our Bill. Honorable 
fairness is all we want and all we ask. 

The people are scared and deprived of their liberties 
and money as well as their manhood and womanhood, 
by being compelled to secure the attendance of a cer- 
tain school of doctors to their children when sick, to 
obtain a certificate of burial when they die under the 
law now existing in the District of Columbia. There 
has been a complaint made to Congress by the doctors 



16 

in charge of the medical department of the District of 
Columbia, but they have failed to show to Congress 
what it is ; we ourselves now propose to show where 
the wrong is. 

1st. The dangerous, tyrannical and obnoxious law 
which compels the people to have certain doctors in 
whom they have no confidence for their children, 
whether they want them or not, or in other words, 
doctors who do not claim to have any sure cure for any 
disease. 

2nd. The above named law is equivalent to placing 
all the people of the District under the guardianship 
of a certain class of doctors who have made no im- 
provement in medicine for the past 267 years, and now 
want to rule out all those who have made improve- 
ments' ; but statistics of mortality in Washington and 
all cities where they have such laws show that their 
practice is a gigantic and disastrous failure. 

If this does not prove a gigantic failure, what would 
you call a failure ? 

3rd. They claim that the present law is necessary 
in 'order for them to make a proper report as soon as 
their patients are dead. 

Now gentlemen, why were these obnoxious, tyran- 
nical, inhuman, unjust, uncivilized, unchristian, un- 
neighborly, unmanly, unprofessional, ungodly, un- 
constitutional, barbarous laws hatched out anyhow? 



17 
WHAT ALLOPATHIC DOCTORS WANT. 



They want to examine all doctors who do not agree 
with them. 

They want to rule them out. 

They want to compel the people to employ them, 
and themselves only. 

They want to domineer over all. 

They want no opposition. 

They want a monarchical rule like that of Mohomet, 
who threw his country into a revolution which lasted 
nearly half a century, or like King Cyrus who had 
his head cut off for less tyrannical ruling than this, or 
like King Charles I, who was beheaded for forcing 
obnoxious laws on the people. We allude to these 
historical facts merely to show that even in those dark 
days people would not submit to such tyranny. Even 
in Austria and Germany, the greatest rebellion ever 
known was brought about by enforcing precisely the 
same kind of laws upon the people as are now sought 
to be imposed upon the common people by these Allo- 
pathic monsters. 

What is the use for Congress to pass a law which is 
not respected, except by a set of doctors who have 
made a gigantic failure in the art of curing and heal- 
ing for hundreds of years; even the humblest justice 
of the peace in the United States, where any case has 
been brought before him under this law, has declared 
it unconstitutional, null and void. In* Indiana only 
one side was heard, and it became a law, but it soon 



18 



cropped out what had been done, and it was taken into 
court where both sides were heard. The court decided 
it unconstitutional and void. (In Virginia such a law 
was passed and also declared unconstitutional.) 

In the District of Columbia, there are hundreds of 
violations of the tyrannical law now hanging over the 
city every day, yet the courts refuse to give jurisdic- 
tion or grant a single warrant under the law, as they 
know it is unconstitutional. 

A house which cannot stand alone without being 
propped up is a dangerous house to live in ; in fact, is 
not fit to live in at all. Neither is a doctor who needs 
laws to force the people to employ him, fit to be 
trusted in any way. 
Mr. Speaker, 

The Senate Bill No. 1236, which is now pending, 
begs Congress to unite with the Allopathic school of 
doctors against the Botanical school of doctors, farmers, 
and common people, which virtually means to establish 
a monarchy for that purpose. There was once an 
animal formed that had seven horns ; this animal which 
is now about to be born, is to have fifteen horns. It 
is proposed to be eight times as large as any which 
ever lived before. I suppose an appropriation will 
have to be made to enlarge the Medical Museum to 
hold this animal. As this animal means to destroy 
the Botanical Garden, that will be a good place to 
build the annex to the Medical Museum to put this 
animal in. If this bill passes both houses of Congress, 
I suppose they will remove the Goddess of Liberty 



19 

from the Capitol and place it on the annex, as there 
will be no more use for it at the Capitol. The U. S. 
Patent Office claims this to be a gross insult against 
her laws. The Agricultural Department also protests 
against the coming of this monstrous beast. 

Does not this show that their pretended scheme 
to regulate the practice of medicine is against the 
protection and welfare of the life of the people in- 
stead of being in its favor? For the truth of this, 
examine the reports of the Board of Health. 



MEDICAL BOTANY WAS FIRST, 

For the truth of which read the mortality list below, 
which shows that there were 13,625 more deaths than 
births in 10 years in the District, when there ought 
to have been about 15,000 more births than deaths in 
these 10 years. Is not this poiitive proof that the 
Allopathic doctors have made a disastrous, murderous 
failure in the practice of medicine ever since they left 
our school 267 years ago, the oldest school in the 
world, the Botanical, Nature's own Cure, and yet 
they use underhanded warfare against us. 

There is but one real, true principle in the medical 
kingdom, that is Nature's own Cure, Botany, it has 
been the first in the world, all others are deserters 
from the truth, ever since they commenced to admin- 
ister poison remedies in their practice, while God fur- 
nishes all our medicines fresh every summer. 



20 

Mr. Speaker, 

This bill, No. 1236, if it was enforced all over the 
United States, would disturb the greatest people on 
earth, the farmers, who support and feed the human 
family. The wise schemers of this said bill could not 
go to the Capitol without having their stomachs full 
of the products of the farmers whose liberties they 
seek to destroy, under the pretence that there is 
something wrong, without showing what it is, or where 
it is, and not giving the farmers and people any chance 
to say yea or nay on this gigantic, dangerous and 
underhanded scheme. The Botanic School of Medi- 
cine claims this to be the greatest and most dangerous 
issue that ever came before any people on earth. It 
involves the destiny of the nation. 

What Do They Want To Regulate? 

The whole object of this monstrous bill is to hew 
down the tree of botany, which gives life and health, 
and plant the Upas tree instead which means death and 
destruction, or in other words would at once add 40 
per cent, to the present mortality by excluding the 
most successful doctors in the District, who could 
not and would not, become subject to the rule of this 
unnatural and illegitimate scheme. 

During the year 1899, we had nine hundred cases of 
La Grippe -and lost none. The same year we had 
eight of Scarlet Fever, twenty-one cases of Diphthe- 
ria, five cases of Typhoid Fever, twelve cases of St. 
Vitus' Dance, sixty-one cases of Kidney Disease. 



21 

forty-three"cases Cholera Infantum, twenty-two cases 
Chills and Fever and lost none. During the months 
of January, February, March and April, 1891, we had 
307 cases of La Grippe and lost none. We also had 
many other diseases and lost none. No man on earth 
can beat these botanical cures. They might as well 
do away with wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley, rice, beans, 
potatoes, buckwheat, meats, fruits, milk and sugars, 
which are the necessaries of life and make flesh and 
blood. 

The four principal diseases now generally prevail- 
ing over the world are La Grippe, Cholera Infantum, 
Diphtheria and Kidney Disease, and the Allopathic 
doctors consider them the most fatal. The Botanic 
doctors claim that they are four of the easiest diseases 
to cure known in human life, and they prove it by 
their success. 

The human body is largely a vegetable body, com- 
posed of purely vegetable matter. , So we use purely 
vegetable medicines for vegetable bodies. Botanical 
doctors are the free thinkers of medicine, with the 
right to choose the best form of all the best Botanic 
theories of medicine, liberty uncircumscribed by the 
teaching of fanatics, freedom to judge for themselves 
that which is best of all that you can learn of the many 
ideas of medical men of the world. 

We believe in love to all, hatred toward none; 
freedom of thought; the right to counsel with all; 
ungoverned by any disgraceful conduct, ethics, or 



22 

force bills. Give us liberty to exercise good common 
sense, and use that which is best to do good in the 
case for which it is intended. This is the true prin- 
ciple of Botanical practice. They are the most suc- 
cessful doctors on the face of the earth who believe 
in personal liberty as well as general liberty. That 
which is right, is right and best for .all. 

This bill No. 1236 died a bornin, and has never 
had a successor. 



CHAPTER II. 



Argument from Statistics of Mortality. 

Death-rates in nine American Cities. — Washington 

fourth in list. a city of average healthful- 

ness. — Deaths and births for ten years from 
1885 to 1894. — Observations on Tables. — 
" Small-pox scare " of 1894. — Attempted "Dip- 
htheria Scare." — Antitoxine. — A proposed cure 
for Consumption. — Confessed Failures by Al- 
lopathists. — Dr. Starr seeks Registration. — 
Reply of Health Officer, Dr. Woodward. 



23 



RECORD OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN THE 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



Many people assert that Washington is an unhealty 
City. This is not true, as will be seen by the fol- 
lowing : 

Table of Death Rates in Nine American Cities for 
the Year 1893. 



1. Chicago 16.93 

2. Cincinnati 18.74 

3. Sr. Louis 19.81 

4. Washington . . . . 20.47 

5. Brooklyn . . . . . 20.79 

6. Baltimore ' 20.97 

7. Philadelphia .... 21.21 

8. New York ...... 23.34 

9. Boston 23.97 

From this table it will be seen that Washington oc- 
cupies an average position for healthfulness in the list 
of American cities. It is gradually improving in the 
scale; and therefore the argument drawn from its sta- 
tistics will be applicable to all American cities. 

Attention is now invited to the subjoined statistics 
taken from the Annual Reports of the Health Officer 
of the District of Columbia for a period of ten years, 
commencing with the year ending June 30, 1885 and 
and closing with the year ending June 30, 1894, mak- 
ing ten years in all. 



24 

Number of Deaths, 5,389 

1885 { " Births, . 3,725 

More Deaths than Births, 1,664 

Number of Deaths, 5,080 

1886 { wt Births, 3,922 

More Deaths than Births, 1,158 

Number of Deaths, 5,071 

1887 ] " Births, 4,134 

More Deaths than Births, ...:... 937 

Number of Deaths, 5,498 

1888 * " .Births, 4,128 

More Deaths than Births, 1,370 



{ 
{ 

i 



Number of Deaths, 5,595 

1889 { u Births, 4,444 

More Deaths than Births, ■ 1,151 

.( Number of Deaths, 6,038 

1890 I " Births, 4,544 

( More Deaths than Births,... 1,494 

Number of Deaths, 6,160 

1891 ct Births, 4,784 

More Deaths than Births, 1,376 



{ 

92 | 



Number of Deaths, 6,565 

1892 { " Births...... 5,081 

More Deaths than Births, 1,484 

( Number of Deaths 6,927 

1893 { " Births, 4,933 

( More Deaths than Births 1,994 

( Number of Deaths, 6,599 

1894 \ " Births, 5,602 

( More Deaths than Births, 997 



[RECAPITULATION. 



Total Deaths in ten years, 58,922 

Total Births u " 45,297 

More Deaths than Births, 13,625 



25 

From the above statistical reports it will be seen 
that the number of deaths in the District of Colum- 
bia for the period from 1885 to 1894 was greater than 
the number of births by the surprising amount of 
13,625, an average of 1352J to the year. At this 
rate, if Washington were to have no immigration 
from other places, the city would finally became de- 
populated. 

2. The records of the same office show, also, that 
the number of deaths of children under five years of 
age from January 1, 1885 to June 30, 1893, a period 
of 8i years was 38 per cent, of the total number of 
deaths for that time. 

3. They show further that the number of deaths of 
children under one year of age for the period of ten 
years commencing July 1, 1884 and ending June 30, 
1894 was more than 26 per cent, of the total number 
of deaths. 

What is the meaning of these figures? Simply this: 
That nearly two-fifths of the deaths in the District of 
Columbia are those of children under five years of age; 
and that more than one-fourth of them are of children 
under one year of age. 

Dr. Starr maintains that his observations show that 
the death rate is arranged somewhat like the Wash- 
ington monument, a structure with its base downward 
and tapering gradually to its apex. The greatest num- 
ber of deaths occurs the first year; the next greatest 
the second; the next, the third, and so, until the top 



26 

is reached when one lone person is found on the cap, 
it may be 150 years old. 

4. The records of the Health Office show that the 
destructive period of human life is childhood, when 
utter helplessness is the lot of infants. The same re- 
cords show that the diseases of this period, viz Cholera 
Infantum, Croup, Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, Measles, 
Whooping Cough, etc., are the destructive ones, and 
that the so-called Allopathic physicians have no posi- 
tive cure for any of them. In fact, children have not 
only the disease itself to fight, but the destructive re- 
medies used as well. Let us look at this matter a 
little more closely. The Health Office Report foi 
1893 gives the names of 896 of these so called Allo- 
pathic physicians as being registered in the District 
of Columbia. One would suppose that so many doc- 
tors, the embodiment of wisdom, ought to be able to 
take full control of the health of the people, and pre- 
vent death and suffering. 

Further, these so-called Allopathes are under the 
direction of the City Board of Health which is com- 
posed of wisdom itself. The power bestowed upon 
this Health Board is, in some respects, greater and 
more despotic than that possessed by any absolute mon- 
arch in the world. One of its number, Dr/ C. J. Os- 
mun, to whom was assigned the special control of the 
Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever service, in his second an- 
nual report says, concerning the rules and regulations 
under which he was acting. " These rules and laws 
afforded ample scope to enable me to put the system 



27 

into practical operation." Rep. Health Off., 1893, p. 8. 
On page 9, Dr. Osmun says : "The number of cases 

of Diphtheria in the previous year. (1892) was 553, 
while during the past year (1893) it was 377, thus- 
showing a reduction of cases of 176. In the same time 
the deaths fell from 177 to 126, showing a decrease in 
the mortality of 51 as between the two years." 

Now the 177 deaths of Diphtheria out of553 cases 
was 32 per cent, or 32 deaths out of every hundred ; and 
the 126 deaths out of 377 cases was 33.4 per cent, or 
nearly 34 out of every hundred. According to Dr. 
Osmun's own statement, mortality among children is 
on the increase. 

On page 8, Dr. C. M. Hammett, the Health Officer 
says : "There were 126 deaths from Diphtheria and 2 
from Diphtheria Croup classed as Diphtheria proper. 
On account of its dangerous character the progress of 
this disease was closely observed during the year. 
Especially was this made obligatory when the disease 
progressed at a rate of about 1 death out of 3 cases ; 
assuming in the spring time an aggravated character, 
when 11 deaths out of 13 cases occurred." 

What do these figures signify? Eleven deaths out 
of thirteen mean that 84.6 per cent, or 85 children out 
every 100 having Diphtheria, die under the manage- 
ment of a class of physicians professing to be guardians 
of the health of the people, and acting under iron-clad 
rules made by themselves to protect the people against 
what they denominate " quacks ! " Whoever heard of 
such consummate cheek and effrontery ? 



♦28 

But this is not all. In October and November, 
1894, a " Small pox Scare " was started in Washing 
ton with the view to compel general vaccination. Sup- 
posed victims were ruthlessly seized by the authorities 
and rushed away to the pesthouse. Cards containing 
the ominous words " Small pox within " together with 
yellow flags were posted upon houses in various parts 
of the city, special pains being taken to put them in 
conspicuous places where they could be seen and add 
to the " scare," Government employes and children in 
public schools were forced to be vaccinated, and in- 
occulated with poisonous matter which produced a 
hundred-fold more suffering and expense than if actual 
Small-pox had been permitted to rage in the city. 
Arms were amputated, suffering of the most intense 
character was produced, and systems were impregnated 
with disease from which the subjects may never recover. 

Scarcely had this terrible scourge of vaccination, 
with its suffering and attendant expense, begun to 
subside when the Washington Times in its editorial 
column of December 17, 1894 had the following : 

Here's A How-De-Do! 

To this complexion has it come at last that the Dis- 
trict Commissioners declare they have no authority to 
pay for five old horses, which are wanted for the pro- 
duction of anti-toxine, the great Diphtheria cure. It 
would probably cost about $200 or $250 to buy the 
' 'plugs," and any number of human lives might be 
saved by the use to which they would be put, yet it 
will require an act of Congress to authorize the pur- 



29 

chase. It would be amusing if it were not so intensely 
tragic. 

What a commentary it all is upon the form of gov- 
ernment the District is blessed with ! There is not 
a village in the country where an expenditure of this 
sort would not be incurred by the mayor, or whoever 
else the proper official might be, without a moment's 
hesitation and with absolute confidence that his action 
would be sanctioned by the council or board of select- 
men. Yet at the nation's Capital the ruling trium- 
virate is powerless. It is the little things of life that 
appeal most powerfully to our comprehension. 

Since the first day of this month twenty-four cases 
of Diphtheria have been reported to the health au- 
thorities. Of these 50 per cent, have been fatal. This 
is a very much larger proportion of mortality than in 
the case of smallpox. Perhaps every one of these 
lives might have been saved; perchance even the ill- 
ness in a majority of cases prevented if this anti-toxine 
had been available. 

Diphtheria, like the poor, is with us always. Until 
the discovery of the serum, there was in almost every 
instance a lack of hope of recovery. Now the remedy 
has been found with which to combat it. Who will 
give the five old horses required to manfacture it?" 

Fifty per cent, of the cases of Diphtheria prove 
fatal ! Is not that a confession that the so-called Al- 
lopaths have never had a cure for Diphtheria? 
What confidence can be placed in their alleged new 
remedy? Is it not just as much of an experiment as 
all previous ones have been? Does it not show a 
wonderful case of desperation when old worn-out, 
ring-boned, diseased horses must be taken to cure dis- 
ease in human beings ? Preposterous ! 



30 

Next, it will be announced that a salve made from 
the left ear of an ancient jackass will cure consump- 
tion in all its forms. A proposition will be made to 
buy up all the aged and diseased jacks to be employed 
in a new cure of consumption. The scheme will be 
just as reasonable. 

After all this confessed failure to cure Diphtheria 
and other diseases, it does seem strange that nature's 
own cures should not be sought. In this emergency 
the following proposition was made : 

Washington, January 22, 1895. 
The City Board of Health, 

Washington, D. C. 

Gentlemen : On the 7th inst., I made verbal ap- 
plication to your Board for registry, but was refused 
the privilege with the remark that " there is no law 
permitting it." My reply was : "neither is there 
a law forbidding it." 

I hereby renew my request in writing to be re. 
gistered and insist upon it for the following reasons : 

1. In various States of this Union, I have been a 
practicing physician, on the basis of Medical Botany, 
Nature's Own Remedy, for sixty-five years, a period 
equal to, if not greater than, that of the practice of 
any other physician in the District of Columbia. 
During all this time, by the use of the potent re- 
medies which nature so liberally furnishes, I have 
had a success in the curing of all forms of disease, 
temporary or chronic, mild or malignant, that would 
astonish the most credulous. 



31 

2. Since the autumn of 1876 I have been practis- 
ing in this city. My patients have been numbered 
by thousands. For years I have not lost a case of 
Diphtheria, La grippe, Whooping Cough, or Scarlet 
Fever, where I was the first and only physician call- 
ed. I have taken and thoroughly cured patients, 
with all sorts of ailments, that were treated in this 
and other cities and given up as incurable. The 
greatest and highest of all tests — "by their fruits 
shall ye know them" — is the one by which I am not 
only willing but anxious to have my practice tried, 
in the most rigid but thoroughly honest manner. 

3. I have never sought any advantage by law or 
otherwise over those whom I may consider medically 
wrong in both theory and practice. I want a fair 
chance in honorable competition. I ask no special 
protection or exclusive privileges. If my work or 
that of any other practitioner is unable to stand 
upon its own intrinsic merits, it must fall and should 
be abandoned. 

4. I make this claim under the constitution of my 
country which was intended to guarantee equal 
rights to all with special privileges to none. On 
this constitutional prerogative I stand, and on it I 
insist that my petition be granted. 

I renew my request for registration. 
Very respectfully, 

WILLIAM M. STARK, 

709 GSt., N. W. 



32 

It would be naturally supposed that the Health De- 
partment of a sorely afflicted city would cheerfully 
welcome the aid of any physician or school of physici- 
ans who not only had 'a harmless, inexpensive and 
infallible cure for such diseases, and could produce 
living witnesses by the thousand. Not so, however, 
that would reflect upon the standing and fate of the 
so-called Allopaths, however much it might benefit the 
people. Witness the following : 

Health Department, 

January 30, 1895. 
Respectfully returned to writer with the informa- 
tion that the law provides that the registration book 
be kept for a specific purpose; and to permit the re- 
gistration asked for would be without legal authority 
and the registration therefore invalid. 

WM. C. WOODWARD, M. D., 

Health Officer. 

These Medical Pharisees made the law, then made 
the books to suit the law, and of course any registra- 
tion must be made to fit the books ! It matters not 
whether the people are benefited or not. Was ever 
such a farce enacted among civilized people ? The 
people, however, are beginning to see that such 
medical tyranny and phariseeism is in the interests of 
the doctors only, and against themselves. They are 
thinking and acting for themselves. They have mo- 
dified the sentiment of Shakespeare so as to read : 
" What fools these mortals be." 



33 
CHAPTER III. 



DEFENCE OF MEDICAL BOTANY. 

Dr. Starr has Discovered the Science of Cure. — 
Analysis of Herbs. — Different Medicine for 
each Diseate. -Positive Cure for every Disease. 
— Doctors should be careful in giving Medi- 
cine. — No Doctor should give a "Kill or 
Cure" Remedy. — Illustration of Sewing Ma- 
chine Agent. — Human Body largely a Vege- 
table Structure. — Success in Curing La Grip- 
pe. — Children should live to be old People. 
How the Author has Lived. — Allopathic Re- 
medies. — Botanicism. — The Free Thinkers in 
Medicine. — Medical Boycott. — Advice to the 
Many Readers. 



DEFENCE OF MEDICAL BOTANY. 

Science in Medical Botany, the greatest Medical 
desideratum of the world, has at last been discovered 
by Dr. Wm. M. Starr, after fifty long years of study 
and practice and at an expense of many thousand dol- 
lars. He has analyzed nearly every herb in the Ve- 
getable kingdom, and in forty-two of the leading 
herbs he has discovered enough Medical substance to 
make medicine to cure every disease in human life, 



34 

and every medicine is separate and distinct for every 
different disease. No two are alike as no two diseases 
are alike. He compounds over sixty different medi- 
cines from forty-two leading herbs, which will, if 
used correctly, cure any disease of the human family. 
He believes that he understands every disease of the 
human frame and has a cure for each. 

He will teach all who may wish to learn the use of 
his valuable remedies in Medical Botany for any dis- 
ease of man, woman or child, also will teach what 
herbs to gather, what time in the year to secure them 
and manufacture the medicine, and the proportion of 
the different herbs to make separate and distinct me- 
dicines for every separate disease in human afflictions. 

He has as many different Botanical medicines as 
there are diseases in human life. Ever since he 
perfected these remedies and found out their use in 
every case whatsoever, he has had no cause to change 
his medicines in any way from their original use in 
any disease, and can cure many old chionic cases of 
all kinds, even where the patient has been poisoned 
from the use of other medicines. 

He has a positive cure among his list of medicines 
for any disease of mankind, if it is not past cur- 
ing. He also cures many chronic cases. When he 
says sure cure or positive cure, he means that the 
patient shall use his medicines and no other until he 
says stop or until the patient is cured. They must 
remain strictly under his medicines and under his 
rules first, last and all the time. 



35 

During the year of 1890 in Chicago, Pittsburg, 
New York, Washington and its surroundings, I had 
over nine hundred cases of La Grippe, and lost none, 
which were mostly treated through the mail. 

Every doctor ought to be careful what he gives 
to his patients, so as not to make any mistake at all, 
or give any medicine that could harm any person, 
even if it could do no good. If he don't know what is 
the matter with the patient, he has no business to give 
any medicine. It should be made a law that no 
man should be allowed to experiment on any person 
in any case. He should know what is wrong and what 
to give and what to do, or quit and give it up. 

I hold that no doctor has any right to give medi- 
cines to kill or cure under any circumstances what- 
ever ; because if he don't know what to give first, he 
is less fit to give the last remedy, as they call it. If 
he knew what to give, his patient would not come to 
this last remedy point. It ought not to be allowed 
at all. They have no moral right to give medicine to 
any person at guess-work or at random. 

Suppose you had a new sewing machine, all in 
good order and it became a little out of order and you 
should send for a machinist to repair it, and he would 
come every day and work on it and your machine kept 
getting worse and worse for weeks and weeks and the 
tinker charging you pay for every day; and at last 
your machine was entirely destroyed. What would 
you say of such a mechanic? Would you not say he 
was a fraud? You would be right in calling him a 



36 

fraud and wholly unfit to undertake such a job. But 
suppose your child was to get a little out of health, 
and you were to call a workman in the medicine bus- 
iness and he was to make equally as bad a job, what 
would you say of him? Would you not say that they 
were both frauds alike ? You could not say anything 
else. If he should tell you that your machine had 
just turned into something else since he began to 
work at it, and that you can look out for the worst, 
after two or three weeks working on it; what would 
you say then ? 

Henry Ward Beecher said, "there was no reason 
why any person who is once healthy should not live 
to be a hundred years old." 

Botanical Doctor Wm. M. Starr says, that if all doc- 
tors were what they ought to be, or what their friends 
take them to be, no children who were once in good 
health, would die under a good old age, from eighty 
to a hundred years or more. 

He further says, that no young person once in good 
health would die, without a gross violation of the 
laws of nature, either by those who have them in 
charge or of themselves. The body best taken care 
of will last the longest, the same as with a machine or 
anything else. 

The farmers are the noblest men on earth. Were I 
to select a board of the greatest men on earth, I would 
go to the largest farmers to choose them, because they 
are the greatest. Were I to select doctors I would 
choose them of those who made their own medicines 



37 

from the raw herbs, fresh from the farms and woods. 
I have analyzed wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley, beans, 
potatoes, rice, meats and milk, and then the human 
body, which is all composed largely of vegetable mat- 
ter. You cannot live without vegetables. This fact 
being true, then who is right? The doctors who 
gather their Medical cure from the vegetable king- 
dom for a vegetable body, or those who gather from 
the mineral kingdom for a vegetable body? Apply 
common sense and you have the answer. You must 
have vegetables to live on, and Botanical cures are 
right. If the human body can't live without mineral 
food, then the mineral doctors are right. The idea 
that the human body must be treated with minerals 
and other poisons for any of its diseases is an absur- 
dity and false. 

It is a historical and important fact, that in the 
Gulf Cities South in Yellow Fever seasons, all the 
people become alarmed, doctors and all. Why is all 
this ? It is because the doctors have no cure for it, 
and have no confidence in themselves ; in fact, the 
doctors die the same as the common people, so all hopes 
for cure are lost and all have to wait for the frost. This 
is positive proof that in a hundred years' experiments 
these doctors know less what to do with Yellow Fever 
than they did a hundred years ago. In fact they don't 
know anything about it at all, except to run from it, 
quarantine against it, and trust to Providence for an 
early frost. Yet they say we have no right to make 
any improvement in medicines or to practice medicine, 



38 

even if we have sure cures. They pretend that they 
know it all and are the only doctors that do. 

It was still a little worse in the city of Washington 
D. C, during the first four months in the year 1891, 
there being more deaths from La Grippe than ever died 
in New Orleans in any four months in history from 
any disease. Why was this? La Grippe is an easy 
disease to cure. In Pittsburg, Pa., it was still worse. 
In Chicago it was worse than Yellow Fever ever was 
in New Orleans. What is the matter ? These diseases 
are curable. Is there no Balm of Gilead or is there 
no man to gather it? I say there is a positive cure 
and a positive preventative in the vegetable kingdom. 
Botanical medicines are the only positive and safe cures 
on earth. 

A little improvement in medicine would harm no 
one. All doctors can have the benefit of my Botanical 
medicines, and their patients as well, if they choose 
to do so. Then why object to have any improvement 
in medicines? Is it possible that the present medical 
profession now in charge have come to a halt in science 
and invention and to a point where there is no sure 
cure for any disease? It looks very much as if it had 
come to this point when there are from 160 to 200 
deaths per week in 1891 in Washington, D. C. Now 
the people are looking for relief from a change of 
weather, &c. If the death rates over those of births 
were to continue as they did during the months of 
February, March, April and May, 1891, it would 
take only twenty years to exterminate the entire po- 



39 

pulation of Washington, New York, Chicago and 
Pittsburg. 

Are the doctors who had charge of those cities the 
same doctors who had those force bills passed in the 
Cities and States, to prevent any doctors out side from 
practicing, selling, or making any new improvements 
whatsoever in medicines ? Must they dictate what the 
people shall or shall not use ? Shall a class of men 
monopolize the whole practice of medicine, who have 
not a single sure cure for any disease in human life ? 
They lost 800 children in two months of Cholera In- 
fantum in the year 1890, and still more in 1891 in 
the District of Columbia. 

" In presenting this work to the public, we do not 
seek to obtain any of those nattering ecomiums which 
are often purchased at the expense of truth. We 
know that the sciene of Medical Botany will, ere long, 
produce a complete revolution in the medical world, 
and we shall neither fear the one, nor shrink from 
the consequences of the other. 

Doubtless the faculty will denounce us in the most 
ungenerous terms for having dared to arraign their 
practice before the bar of public opinion ; for this too 
we are prepared, so as we can summon to our aid such 
evidence as will not only establish our principles, but 
silence effectually those who oppose us; yet, in the 
midst of all these advantages, selfishness steps in and 
proclaims aloud that none save the Diplomatised, are 
competent to cure the sick, or administer to the afflic- 
ted, when every day's history proves the folly of such 



40 

a vain and egotistical policy. Why the medical world 
should arrogate to itself the prescriptive right of kill- 
ing or curing at pleasure, is a problem we are not 
learned enough to solve; or why a man should be es- 
teemed a clever physician because he has been educa- 
ted in a college, we are at a loss to divine. Education 
is proper for all men. We would that all men were 
better educated than they are; but education either 
means something or nothing. If it be a reality, 
why should a physician seek his diploma in a college? 
Certainly not, but in the cottage where human nature 
lies suffering on its couch of pain. Will a shred of 
parchment confer ability upon its possessor ? Certainly 
not; it is a delusion to suppose it. 

The author ridicules, and justly too, the use of the 
lancet and the dissecting-knife; what sensible man can 
admire the policy of cutting up a body after death in 
order to ascertain the nature of the malady of which 
the patient died ? This absurdity is only equalled by 
that of the philosopher who cut the bellows open to 
find out where the wind came from, and there is cer- 
tainly as much knowledge in one case as in the other. 

Indulgent nature provides a fitting remedy for every 
ill that flesh is heir to. Man in his ignorance, too 
frequently rejects the boon that nature offers. What 
better proof can we ask than that a man who under- 
takes to cure the sick, should be able to ascertain the 
cause of sickness, to know where to find a remedy 
and how it should be applied? Above all things 
avoid such irregularities as may lead to decay. 



41 

After all, even though we succeed in proving more 
than was ever previously attempted by any other man, 
we know the faculty will not admit us, neither can we 
expect any favor at their hands, nor will their practices 
receive much from us, however we will show that a 
knowledge of nature is not indigenous to college life, 
but must be sought for in the woods and forests ; 
each sun-lit vale or verdant meadow contains some 
agent of a remedial kind. A green herb is worth 
more than a Latin phrase. 

Nature has a college of her own — in it we have 
studied. We reasoned thus with nature, " Is there no 
oalm of Gilead — no aim to save from death — no res- 
pite from the grave? " The voice of nature breathed 
within our soul. We sought the woods, the fields and 
the forests of our native land; from verdant banks we 
gathered healing herbs. We sought the sufferer on 
his bed of pain, we raised his drooping head, we bade 
him drink and live — nature revived within him, his 
languid eyes unclosed, his feeble arm again grew 
strong, his wife and children blessed us with their 
tears. 

It is not natural nor was it intended by the God of 
nature for plants to die in mid-summer; if they 'do, 
something is surely wrong. Neither was it intended 
by the Great all wise God for any human being to die 
in middle life or under his normal age. If a child is 
once healthy and sound in every respect and is then 
treated strictly, according to the intention of the Crea- 
tor, it will live to its normal age, three-score and ten 



42 

years or more. If a child is once in perfect health, and 
its parents know just what to give it to eat at all times 
and how much, and at what hours, and how much to 
exercise it, and at what hours, just as Nature's Law 
demands all through life, then such person or persons 
would live their days out as intended from the begin- 
ning. 

The premature death of a person is the result of 
physical violation. To ascribe it to the action of an 
all wise God is a libel upon his goodness. 

Every human being should go to bed at dark and 
do all his work by the light of the sun. Do not work 
by artificial light at all. 

Children should go to bed at dark to become healthy 
and strong' men and women. 



HOW THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK HAS 
LIVED ALL THROUGH HIS LIFE. 



He never drank any intoxicating liquors of any kind. 
He never chewed or smoked tobacco. He never ate as 
much as he could at any meal. He never drank 
more than a half tumbler of ice water or more 
than a tumbler of pump water at a time. He never 
would eat anything that was not good for his stom- 
ach or cause any disorder in his digestive organs. 
This was the great study of his life as to what to eat, 
how much and at what time, to be healthy and 



43 

strong. He never ran as fast as he could. Never 
went under the water with his head. He goes to 
bed at eight and gets up at five o'clock. He eats at 
seven, twelve and five o'clock. These have been his 
habits since he was fourteen years of age and he is now 
in his 85th year. He is in perfect health and can en- 
dure as much as most young men. He has not lost a 
meal on account of sickness for sixty-five years. He 
takes regular exercise every day, rain or shine. He 
has never taken any medicine, only that of herbs, and 
of his own make since 14 years old. 



REMEDIES. 



This is the way a doctor writes about drugs : — As 
for treatment. I have just been looking over Lander 
Brunton, Aitken Hooper and some others of the same 
class. Certainly I had to study them in the days gone 
by, but just now, for the sake of my fellow men I have 
been giving them special attention. Dear me ! How 
can miserable disease live in front of so terrible an 
array of terrible remedies ! What canst thou not have, 
poor man? Dry cupping, Hot poultices, Muriate, Tinc- 
ture of Iron (Muriatic Acid and Iron filings dis- 
solved), Carbonate, Chlorate of Ammonia, Aconite, 
Tartar Emetic, Foxglove, Ipecacuanha, Paregoric, 
Opium and its preparations, Chloral Hydrate, Bella- 
donna, Colchicum, Copabia, CrotonOil, Quinine, Tur- 
pentine, Lead, Jalap, Lobelia, Mercury, Eucalyptus, 



44 

Nitric Acid, Alum, Pilocarpine, Calabar Bean, Zinc, 
Potash, Thorn Apple, Strychnia, Arsenic, Hemlock, 
Petroleum, Indian Hemp, and other drugs equally 
glorious — all are ready to woo the serpent of thy life 
to rest, or to kill thee in the attempt. 

Truly, I would as soon face a regiment of the old 
guard of France, as the formidable drugs mentioned. 
Never mind, its an ill wind that blows nobody good, 
especially registers of births and deaths. — Hall Jour- 
nal of Health. 



BOTANICISM. 



THE FREE THINKERS OF MEDICINE. 



The right to choose the best from all of the many 
theories of medicine ; liberty uncircumscribed by 
the teachings of fanatics ; freedom to judge for 
yourself that which is best of all that you can learn 
of the many ideas of medical men of the world ; love 
for all, hatred toward none ; freedom of thought and 
the right to counsel with all, ungoverned by a mean 
disgraceful code of ethics. Liberty to exercise good 
common sense, and use that which is best calculated 
to do good in the case in which it is indicated. This 
is the true definition of the Botanical profession. 
They are the most prosperous class of doctors on the 
face of the earth, believing in personal as well as 



45 

general liberty, that which is right, and Nature's re- 
medies only. 

A house which cannot stand alone without being 
propped up, is a dangerous house to live in, and in 
fact is not fit to live in at all. Neither is a doctor or 
any other class of men who need laws to force the 
people to employ them, fit to be trusted in any way. 

A doctor who claims that he has a license to give 
poison medicine to "kill or cure" at his will, is in 
effect to claim that he has a license to murder. 

If the Czar was to issue such a license, his head 
would not be on his shoulders one week. If the Em- 
peror of China were to make such a law, the walls 
around Pekin would not save him a day. Let a doc- 
tor stand alone on his own merits and his success in 
making cures. No monopoly. 

The law which demands that an M. D. must be cal- 
led in to see any sick person, old or young, to secure 
a certificate of burial in case of death, is an inhuman 
outrage. It is to compel people to hire a doctor of 
only one school, whether they want them or not. It 
means to force and impose these M. D's. on the people 
without their free will and consent. This is an out- 
rage, and tyrants have often suffered death for less 
tyrannical acts than such a law imposes upon the 
people. Great consolation for the 800 mothers in 
Washington, in the two months of 1890 to know from 
the M. D's. that their children died from the use of 
milk ! Botanic Doctors never give such medicines as 
will cause a child to die from the use of milk, and 



46 

why should they not be allowed to give a certificate 
of burial in case one of their patients should happen 
to die? Botanic Doctors are entirely apposed to all 
force measures or secterian law. Botanic Doctors 
claim that three quarters of the whole population of 
the United States are with them on this issue. 



CHAPTER IV. 



War With Medical Authorities. 

Deeclaration of War by the Allopaths. — Means 
of Counteracting them. — Petition, Counter- 
Bill and Arguments. — House Bill No. 11565, 
to Regulate Practice of Medicine in the 
District of Columbia. — Bill Withdrawn from 
the House and introduced in the Senate. — 
Plea for the Bill. 



DECLARATION OF WAR. 

Scarcely had Dr. Starr commenced the practice of 
Medicine in Washington, when the Allopathic doctors 
began their effort to secure a monopoly of medical 
practice. Under the plea that the public needed pro- 
tection against quacks and frauds, but failing all the 



47 

time to point out who the frauds and quacks were, 
they groveled before Congressional Committees and 
strove to have bills passed that would give them en- 
tire control of such matters in the District of Co- 
lumbia. 

These measures were counteracted by Dr. Starr in 
various ways : First by petition signed by thousands 
of citizens, rich and poor ; then by introduction of a 
bill, claiming equal rights under laws already made ; 
and finally by arguments from notes before Senate 
Committee and now filed as standing arguments be- 
fore the House Committees. 

The nature and extent of this contest will be un- 
derstood by carefully reading the documents found in 
this book. The first bill was the one which follows : 



51st CONGRESS. ) TT TD ^ t ft Ct £Z 

1st SESSION. } 11. li. llOOO. 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
July 28, 1890. 

(Read twice,) referred to the Committee on the District 
of Columbia, and ordered to be printed. 



Mr. Culberson, of Texas, (by request) intro- 
duced tlie following bill : 



48 



To regulate the practice of medicine in the District of 
Columbia. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Re- 

2 presentatives of the United States of America in 

3 Congress assembled, That the Botanical School 

4 of Medicine shall have all the rights, privileges, 

5 and protection now provided by the law for Al- 

6 lopathic and Homeopathic School of Medicine 

7 within the District of Columbia, and the teach- 

8 ers and professors of said Botanical School of 

9 Medicine shall have the same privileges and 

10 rights respecting the teaching and practice of 

11 their profession as may be accorded by existing 

12 laws to either of said other Schools of Medicine. 
For good reasons this bill was withdrawn from the 

House, and introduced into the Senate on the 18th 
of January, 1892, by Senator Peffer. In his plea be- 
fore the Senate Committee Dr. Starr presented the 
following points. 
Gentlemen : 

Is it not fair ? Is it not just ? Is it not in accordance 
with our system of government ? Does it not give equal 
rights to all ? Does it not correspond with the right 
granted to all other business men in this country to make 
all improvements they can and use them under all laws; 
then why should the Botanical Schools of Medicine not 
have the right to make improvements in medicines as any 
other school, and to practice and to teach Medical Botany. 

I have been in the study, manufacture and use in my 
practice of the Botanical remedies for the past 63 years, 



49 

with unprecedented success, in every kind of disease of 
human life. I never have had to experiment or change 
my medicine for any case. I have been practing in Wash- 
ington, D. C, since 1876, with perfect success, and have 
eight assistants here under my instructions who have con- 
stantly a large number of patients with whom they have 
equal success. My assistants have instructions to hunt 
up and report to me all cases they can find given up to die 
by other physicians, and out of the many they have re- 
ported to me, we have been successful in curing many of 
them. We have discovered that the human body is a 
purely vegetable body composed of the products of the 
farmer. The Botanical remedies which we use grow to- 
gether with the products of the farmer, and we know, in 
the language of scripture, they are "for the healings of 
the nations." 

For the sake of common justice and humanity, and for 
the sake of the dear children and the destiny of our nation, 
we pray that Congress will pass the above bill and give the 
Botanic schools of medicine an equal chance concerning 
the teaching and practice of medicine as substantially set 
forth in the foregoing bill. This would regulate the prac- 
tice of medicine sure enough. 



CHAPTER V. 



Argument from a Constitutional 
Standpoint. 

Laws of Health of Body and Soul Identical. — De- 
claration of Independence. — Preamble to Fe- 



50 



deral Constitution. — Fifth Amendment. — 
Fourteenth Amendment. — Legitimate Infer- 
ences. 



The natural laws governing the health of the body 
and the health of the soul are substantially the same. 
The scriptures recognize this when they say " They 
that are whole (healthy) need not a physician, but 
they that are sick: "Physician, heal thyself." 
Jesus is called the "Physician of Souls." 

The Declaration of Independence, so sacred and or- 
ganic in our history says : "We hold these truths to 
be self-evident; that all men are created equal ; that 
they are endowed by their creator with certain un- 
alienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and 
the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men, deriving their 
just powers from the consent of the governed; that 
whenever any form of government becomes destruc- 
tive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter 
or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying 
its foundations on such principles and organizing its 
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 
to effect their safety and happiness." 

To guard the interests of the people, Congress passed 
the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which pro- 
vides : "No person shall # # be deprived of life, 
liberty or property, without due process of law." 

But to enlarge still further the rights of the people 
to the greatest enjoyment of liberty, the Fourteenth 



51 

Amendment was made, providing in Section 1 as fol- 
lows : " All persons born or naturalized in the United 
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citi- 
zens of the United States and^of the State wherein they 
reside- No State shall make or enforce any law 
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citi- 
zens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive 
any person of life, liberty, or property, without due pro- 
cess of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdic- 
tion the equal protection of its laws." 



Legitimate Inference from the Foregoing: 



1. All men have equal rights and equal protection 
guaranteed to them under the Constitution of our 
country. These rights and protection are by virtue 
of their being citizens of the United States. 

2. Any legislation which confers exclusive rights 
and advantages to one class of persons but denies 
them to others of the same class is, of necessity, un- 
constitutional, unjust and therefore void. 

3. The people have as good right, in fact the same 
right, to choose who shall administer to the comforts 
of their body as to the comforts of their spirits; and 
if no discrimination is permitted, under the constitu- 
tion, to be made relative to the choice or the exercise 
of their religious beliefs, neither can there be relative 
to their selection'of a medical guide. 



52 

4. All laws which discriminate against any system 
or school of medicine and in favor of any system or 
school are unconstitutional and deserve no considera- 
tion. They are un-American and unjust, and ought to 
be wholly disregarded. 

5. Any physician or system of practice which calls 
in law or force to protect and bolster it up, confesses 
fraud and is unworthy of either acceptance or respect, 
according to the intention of the foundamental prin- 
ciples of the Declaration of Independence and the 
Constitution of our country. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 



Description of Process of Digestion.— Mastica- 
tion, Gastric Action in Stomach.— Action in 
Duodeniem. — Hygiene and its Importance. — 
Eating of Pood.— Ventilation of Sleeping 
Rooms, — Exercise.— Sunlight.— Body under- 
going Constant Changes.— Medicine and Pur- 
pose.— Botanical Materia Medica consists of 
Herbs. 

To the thinking world it is undoubtedly the inten- 
tion of the Creator that all things created should live 
until they are worn out, like a machine; according to 



53 

this it is self evident that all people should live as 
near to the laws of Nature as possible and study their 
own health and welfare. 

It will not be expected of us that we shall go into 
minute statements, but we beg to call attention briefly 
to the process of digestion : 

Mastication. Food taken into the mouth should be 
carefully dhewed and mixed with the Saliva which is 
furnished for that purpose. The teeth should be kept 
clean, and not injured by hot or cold material, and 
should not be marred by the cold steel of the dentist. 
A valuable lesson can be learned from the Indians, 
who never apply forceps to extract teeth. Nor should 
excessive drinks be used in the digestion of food. The 
Saliva furnished affords sufficient moisture ; and for 
that reason it should not be poisoned or wasted by the 
use of tobacco in any form. 

Digestion. After the food has been swallowed, it 
finds its lodgment in the stomach where the gastric 
juices are mixed with it. The process of churning 
goes on for hours to prepare this food for the nourish- 
ment of the body. The stomach has some rights. It 
ought to have good food, properly prepared or cooked, 
and then it ought not to be compressed by lacings or 
corsets, nor hindered by being given alcoholic or other 
dangerous drinks. If it has a fair chance it will do 
its work successfully. 

After passing from the stomach into what is known 
as the second stomach, or duodeniem, the food receives 
other fluids from the pancreas and liver to still further 



54 

aid in its digestion and prepare it for the mission it 
has to accomplish in the support and building up of 
the body. 

It is important then that people should eat 
proper food at proper times and in proper manner ; 
that they should give the stomach ample time and op- 
portunities to digest it ; that they should breathe 
pure air at all times; and finally, that they should 
take the proper kind of exercise to give this blood 
thus purified, a chance to be distributed. If people 
will study these matters carefully, and learn their own 
systems, they can have health without taking the 
poisonous and expensive medicines dealt out by the 
Allopothic doctors. 



HYGIENE. 

Hygiene is a body of facts or principles that are es- 
sential to the preservation of our bodies, health and 
happiness. I shall abridge my sentences in speaking 
of this subject. In the first place a man should be re- 
gular in his habits : that is, have regular hours for 
meals, three meals per day when laboring, six hours 
apart, and should never retire to rest until two hours 
after supper. Should not drink anything while eating, 
so that the saliva, Nature's fluid, may mingle properly 
with the food, that it may be digested readily and pro- 
perly. Persons should chew their food so fine be*fore 
swallowing that they can feel no lumps in it with the 



55 

tongue, in order that the gastric-juice may readily 
penetrate and digest it. 

The room or place a person sleeps in should be well 
ventilated, so that the air is pure and refreshing, 
which gives life and activity to the entire body; and 
he should bathe twice per week, in order that the skin 
may be kept pure and clean, that it may not re-absorb 
the poisons that are thrown out from the pores. The 
water should only be a few degrees above the tempera- 
ture of the body. The body should be well rubbed 
after bathing with a rough towel till the skin is glow- 
ing. This calls the blood to the surface and promotes 
a healthy circulation, and makes a person feel better 
every way. The clothing should be ehanged once 
every week, because they become saturated with the 
fumes and odors of the body, which, if reabsorbed, are 
poisonous to the general system. Cleanliness is next 
to godliness, and beyond question or doubt, is the key 
note of man's health. Everyone, when eating, should 
stop before they realize the sensation that they have 
got enough. Dr. Starr says: "If you would have 
an appetite stop with one," and it is true. Knick 
knacks, if eaten at all, should be eaten before substan- 
tial food, because when they are left till the last you 
have already eated all the necessary food that you 
need, and then come dainties that tickle the appetite 
and cause you to eat more than is demanded by nature, 
and the result is indigestion or dyspepsia. Everybody 
needs exercise in order that they may have proper de- 
velopment of the bodies they own. No one should 



56 

work in a room where it is dark, for darkness is a seda- 
tive, and light is a stimulant, to the animal organiza- 
tion as well as the vegetable. Take a man and let 
him work in a dark cellar, and the result is he soon 
becomes pale and poor in flesh. Take a plant and set 
it in the shade, and it becomes pale green, slim, tall, 
and spindling; hence my readers, you see the impor- 
tance of good light. In concluding my remarks on 
Hygiene, I will say that it is strictly important, in 
order that we may have good health, we should have 
good light, good air, good food, good water, sufficient 
clothing, strict cleanliness, and discretion and tem- 
perance in all things. All persons observing these 
rules will seldom be obliged to call the physician to 
administer unto him in a case of sickness, unless -of a 
contagious character. 



DIGESTION. 

Digestion is one of the most important features or 
functions that is performed in our physical organiza- 
tion, from the fact that we receive our support from it, 
and by it our bodies are entirely renewed every four 
months. The weight of the body that we now own in 
four months will be entirely new in every particular. 
The old theory was, that the body renewed itself every 
seven years, but that idea is now exploded. If you 
will mark the finger nail at the root, or where it comes 
in contact with the skin or flesh, with a file or piece of 



57 

caustic, you will find, at the end of four months, that 
the mark will have grown clear out to the end of the 
nail, which proves the nail has grown entirely new; 
and so it is with the entire body. Knowing this to 
be a fact, we realize the importance of having a knowl- 
edge of digestion; how long it takes every article of 
food to digest that we have in every-day life and dur- 
ing life, for good digestion makes good blood, good 
blood a good body, and without a good body no man 
can be happy, for the healthy body is the machinery 
in which we accomplish success and happiness in life. 



MEDICINE. 

Medicine, in its common acceptation in the minds of 
the people, is a substance that cures diseases, but the 
truth of the matter is, medicine never cured anything. 
It is the natural tendency of a majority of diseases to 
get well within themselves, free from medical aid. 
Medicine, properly administered, simply assists nature 
to remove the cause that obstructs her acting in a 
normal condition. Medicine is not a humbug. The 
humbug is in its improper administration. When 
medicine is properly administered it comes to the suf- 
ferer as a gift from God. Medicine is unjustly judged. 
It is not medicine that is at fault, but it is those who 
give it without the proper knowledge of its effects, 
and when it is indicated. Medicine, when it is not 
properly given, proves an actual poison to the system. 



58 

Botanic Materia Medica treats of herbs and vegetation 
which is known by me to have medicinal properties. 
They will never injure the system when conformed to 
according to directions given. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Miscellaneous Announcements. 



Every Botonical Physician in the United States is 
justly indebted to Dr. Starr at least ten dollars ($10.) 
for legal services in fighting the battles of the profes- 
sion. Let them show their appreciation by remitting 
at once. 

Any one, whether a student or a practitioner of 
medicine in any school, will be trained fully in the 
science of Botonical practice for the sum of five hun- 
dred dollars; or in any one of the most prevalent and 
destructive diseases, as Diphtheria, La Grippe, Scarlet 
Fever, Cholera Infantum, etc., for one hundred dol- 
lars. The figures include training from first to last. 



SPECIAL NOTICE. 



When persons ]iving at a distance desire treatment, they 
can, by writing answers to the following questions, send 
such a statement of their condition as will enable me to 



59 



comprehend the character of their disease, and prescribe 
the proper remedies for its cure. 

All letters should be addressed to 

Dr. WM, M. STARK, 

Botanical Medicines, 709 G- Street, N. W., 

Washington, D. C. 



ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. 

Your name. 

Age and occupation. 

Post Office address. 

Are you strong or weak ? 

Give a short account of your disease. 



TESTIMONIALS- 



Washington, D. C, July 30, 1890. 
Dr. W. M. Starr. 

This certifies that twice I was operated upon at Gar- 
field Hospital at different times and each time was a per- 
fect failure. J. Ford Thompson was my Surgeon. I 
grew worse and saw certain death was for me, so I left in 
a perfect wrecked condition ; utterly unable to lift fixe 
pounds, or stand one minute, so great was my agony. I 
had other physicians, all without one jot of help. I con- 
tinued to grow worse, until at my brothers house I drank 
some of Dr. Starr's Kidney Tea and at once I saw its 
Diuretic action and I had some hope. On meeting Dr. 
Starr I demanded of him if I could be cured (for I had 
lost the coating of my stomach and I was in the very last 
stage of Bright 's Disease of the Kidneys, and I also had 
a very large stone in my bladder). Dr. Starr said that the 
cause was still in my system which caused me to go to the 
hospital. I said, Doctor, can you cure me, for I was given 
up to die by all physicians. He said certainly I can cure 
you. I at once went under his treatment and to-day 
nearly one pound and a half of stone has come out of my 



60 

bladder. My Blight's Disease is perfectly cure d and the 
coating of my stomach is sound and new. I thank God 
when all physicians and friends gave me up to die, Dr. W. 
M. Starr positively declared in my dying presence that I 
should live, and I am alive and will gladly answer any in- 
quiry as to the enormous stone taken from my bladder, 
which I have in my possession. 

I remain a devoted advocate to Dr. W. M. Starr and 
all his positive remedies. 

Dr. Nelson Calvin Page, 

406 7th Street, S. W., 
Washington, D. C. 



Washington, D. C, February 5, 1878. 
Dr. W. M. Starr. 

Dear Sir : In justice to you and for the benefit of suf- 
fering humanity, I make this statement. I have been a 
sufferer for years with what the physicians term Bright 's 
Disease of the Kidneys. 

Though I had the most eminent physicians, still I found 
no relief, until I found your Balm of Gilead which did all 
it was recommended to do. I was so bad at that time 
that the doctor said I would have to go through an opera- 
tion which I dreaded very much. It was at this time I 
w r as persuaded to try your medicine, of which I found re- 
lief almost immediately. I have recommended it to others 
with the same result. Verv respectfully, 

George W. Hill, 
90 Myrtle St., N. E. 



Washington, D. G., March, 1885. 
Dr. W. M. Starr. 

Dear Sir : Having suffered at intervals for ten years 
with Kidney troubles and found scarcely any relief, con- 
cluded to try your Kidney Tea, at the time I had no 
rest for three successive weeks, and was also suffering from 
a cold which affected my back and kidneys, causing intense 
misery, so much so that no physician gave me any relief 
until taking about a pint of your tea. In fifteen minutes 
or less relief came, such a change that it was like unto a 
perfect health restored, that was indeed relief assured and 



61 

since, or to this time, September, I am still enjoying the 
benefits of such wonderful treatment of such delicate 
members of the body. You will please ever accept the 
thanks of Yours respectfully. 

David E. Dutrow, 

Butter Dealer, 
La. Ave.,N.W. 



Washington, D. C, November 26, 1884. 
Dear Sir : I take this method of returning my thanks 
for the great benefit I have derived from the use of your 
medicine. For a long time I was afflicted with Kidney 
disease, having tried several remedies without any relief, 
I was induced to give your Kidney medicine a trial. I did 
so, and it acted upon me like magic, for it gave instant re- 
lief, and one box made a permanent cure, and I cheerfully 
recommend it to any sufferer from the dreadful malady. 
Very respectfully, 

K. C. Gover, 
317 4i St., ]ST. w. 

This list might be indefinitely increased. Our pa- 
tients, numbered by thousands in every part of the 
nation, are our best advertisements. 



Every living thing on earth must have his support 
from the nutritious juice of the earth; no animal, bird, 
fish or insect can live without it, it is life itself, what 
is left back in the earth will not sustain life nor cure 
it. So if a doctor wishes to be successful, he must 
gather his medicines from the groth of the earth, as 
nature has provided for ; the body must be mended 
with the same material it is originally made of. Let 
any doctor who denies these facts go to the dessert of 
Utah and live strictly on what it produces for ten 
years, then return and report to us. 

DR. WM. M. STARR. 



62 

The following is a list of the principal medicines 
prepared by Dr. Starr : 

* COUGH SYRUP. * 

For Coughs, Colds, Croup, Hoarseness, Catarrh, &c, and 
is a sure cure for any case of 

THROAT OR LUNG DISEASE. 

If used for first cough or cold, it is a preventive of Con- 
sumption, and a pleasant relief for Whooping Cough. 
25 Cents per Bottle. 

* LIVER PILLS. * 

For Bilious Complaints, Colds, Headaches, Pains in the 
Body or Limbs &c, and are a positive cure for 
Nervousness or Indigestion. 
We have also a positive cure for 

ST. VITUS DANCE. 

25 Cents per Box, 

* KIDNEY TEA. * 

A Positive Cure, this Tea has been used by men, women 
and children with perfect success in many thousand cases 
of all kinds of Kidney Diseases ; it dissolves Gravel, cures 
Diabetes, Backache, it drives gases from the Stomach, it 
is healthy, has a good taste, is often nsed as Table Tea, 
can use it hot or cold with sugar and milk as you choose, 
and as much and as often as you want. 

Price, 35 Cents per Box. 



63 

* RHEUMATIC BALM, • 

The finest and only perfect Balsam in use ; it is a sure 
cure for all cases of 

RHEUMATISM, HEADACHE, NEURALGIA, 

TOOTACHE, PAINS, BRUISES, SPRAINS, &C. 
Price 25 Cents per Bottle. 

CHOLERA INFANTUM POWDER, 

It is a positive cure for Cholera Infantum in men, women 

or children ; the first positive cure ever discovered, it is 

rich and healthy, has a pleasant taste. 

PRICE 25 CENTS PER BOX. 

* BALM OF GILEAD SALVE, * 
CURES PILES AND OTHER SORES. 

PRICE 25 CENTS PER BOX. 

CHILL AND FEYER TEA. 

Cures any case of 

GhILaIaS and Frvrr. 

Price 25 Cents per Box. 

I have a positive Cure for 

Scarlet Fever, La Grippe, Diphtheria, Kidney 

^ Disease in any Form, Cholera In- -fc 

* fantum, Whooping Cough, it 

MEASLES AND ANY KIND OP PEVER. 



64 

•fa All my preparations are composed of -^f 

HERBS, FRESH FROM THE FIELDS AND WOODS. 

They are gathered by myself and prepared on 

scientific principles and make the best and 

* safest Family Medicines in use. * 



For La Grippe, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, 

Measles, Whooping Cough, or any 

kind of Fever 

Medicine in dry packs, will be sent by mail free to 

any part of the United States, Mexico, or Canada. 

Medicines in bottles will be sent by Express 

at the expense of the party ordering the 

same on receipt of the price of the 

Medicine. 

§y Send money by Express or P. 0. Money order, or 

Draft on New York, but no money in letters. 



will teach, these £ures to any person, 
Doctors included, in the United States. 



Address all letters to 

DR. WM. M. STARR, 
No. 709 G Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 



65 
SPECIAL NOTICE, * 



I will send my positive 

Scarlet Fever Cure, 

Diphtheria Cure, and my 

Cholera Infantum Cure 

by mail, postage paid, for one Dollar per 8 ounces box, 

with all directions enclosed, to any address in the United 

States or Canada. 

TO MY MANY READERS. 

I will say to you, use your own judgment, uninfluenced 
by any prejudice that may have previously existed in 
your minds. Give my advice a trial if you need it, and 
judge me and what I say by the effects. I give you my 
w r ordand honor most solemnly, that all I have told you is 
safe for the most delicate person to try without the 
slightest danger of producing any effect detrimental, either 
temporary or permanent. A wise person will glean knowl- 
edge from whatever source it may arise. The compass of 
the Indian is the moss on the north side of the tree, which 
is knowledge from a natural source gleaned by the wild 
untutored savage. I will further say, good education is 
the only reliable means to lasting reforms, and will teach 
people to think for themselves, and that simple medical 
facts have been hidden in the past by technical words, 
but to-day are told in common English. 

Dr. Starr. 

Disease never changes in the body, it only gets 
worse and worse, all from the first cause. 



66 



Important Notice to the Public, and 
Physicians. 



My object of writing a brief letter to the health 
officer of Washington, D. C, is, to announce to the 
health office and others that there is a sure cure in this 
city for all the diseases above mentioned, and that 
they all can have access to same, and can have re- 
ceipts to manufacture it. Any person wishing to 
study and learn this science can also have these 
cures, or they can send and get any of these remedies. 

I want to let the people know that there is a sure 
cure discovered and is in the market, and is very 
plentiful on the Eastern slope of the Alleghany moun- 
tains. 

My kidney tea is a better tasting drink than China 
tea, it is growing wild on the Eastern slope of the 
Alleghany mountains and can be extensively and 
successfully cultivated in Maryland and Virginia. 

While I am claiming, and I am satisfied that I 
have discovered sure cures for all these diseases, 
would like for the public and the entire medical fra- 
ternity to take it under consideration. 

I will sell or teach the whole or any part of these 
discoveries. I make this offer so that any person wish- 
ing to go into such a practice, can have an opportunity 
to either of the above offers. 

Dr. Wm. M. Starr, 
709 G St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 



67 



THE BOTANICAL BY-LAWS. 



Sec. 1. Any man who wants to be a student In this pro- 
fession, must first prove himself to be a natural genius in 
every respect. 

Sec. 2. He must be a good chemist in botany. 

Sec. 3. He must be a chemist in earth and water. 

Sec. 4. He must understand how to gather all the raw 
material for all the medicines he may want to use in the 
Botanical practice. 

Sec. 5. He must then know how to manufacture them 
on scientific principles without any mistake. 

Sec. 6. He must manufacture each article separate and 
distinct for each and every respective disease in human 
life. 

Sec. 7. He then can practice under instruction and if he 
finds a case that he don't understand he must at once re- 
port to the nearest headquarters. 

Sec. 8. Such student or students are not allowed to 
change their medicines. 

Sec. 9. If they find a case they do not understand per- 
fectly, they must report at once, without any experiment- 
ing at all. 

Sec. 10. They must know what is the matter and what 
to give, and what to do first, last and all the time, or stop 
at once and report such case or cases to headquarters. 

Sec. 11. Every student must understand Mid-Wifery 
perfectly. 

Sec. 12. All students must thoroughly understand sur- 
gery so as to see whether it is necessary for an operation 
or not, and how, if necessary, without any mistake. 

Sec. 13. No experiments are allowed. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Flashes of Starr-Light. 

1. The present practice of medicine by the Allo- 
paths and their allies is not a science, but a business 
based on conjecture. 

2. Herod sent forth a decree to kill all children 
under two years of age. If he could have used the 
same methods that our modern doctors do in treating 
Diphtheria, Scarlet fever, Croup, etc., he would have 
been saved his cruel edict. 

3. The person who has attained the age of 21 years 
but does not know what ails him in case of sickness 
nor how to prescribe for himself and thus remove the 
cause, is a fit subject for the asylum. 

4. When the Greeks said : Know thyself, they ut- 
tered a great truth. People know too little of them- 
selves, and how to preserve themselves from disease. 
That knowledge is most valuable which enables them 
to study their own systems, ascertain the causes of 
their ailments, and decide what will remove the cause 
and restore health. They need no high-priced, self- 
inflated Allopathic doctors for this. All he knows con- 
cerning his patients is what they tell him. If they 
don't know, he doesn't; but he looks wise, prescribes 
in Latin, and then makes his victims pay the bill. 



69 

5. The physician who gives what is called the ' 'heroic" 
or " kill or cure" remedy, should, if the case proves 
fatal as it will in 99 instances out of 100, be arrested 
and tried for murder in the second degree. It would 
be better to let the patient die a natural death. The 
chances are, however, that if the doctor had remained 
away entirely, the patient would soon have recovered. 

6. The physician who needlessly amputates a limb 
or performs any surgical operation that unnecessarily 
mars the patient for life should be criminally pro- 
secuted. 

7. The physician who uses either tobacco, or opium 
or any sort of intoxicating drink is unfit to visit a pa- 
tient or a sick room. His judgment is not to be 
trusted. His example is bad. 

8. The physician who prescribes medicine which 
he is unwilling to take in th£ presence of his pa- 
tient is acting dishonestly and is undeserving of con- 
fidence. It is prima facia evidence that his medicine 
is injurious and unfit to be taken by any one, sick or 
well. 

9. The physician who is suifering from an ailment 
which he tries to cure in others is a fraud. If he 
can't cure others. ' 'Physician , heal thyself, " is a lesson 
he needs to learn. 

10. The most useful class of people in the country 
are the farmers. They supply wheat and corn and 
potatoes and meats and fruits for the people to eat. 
Their material is healthful. The next most useful 
class of people, so far as health is concerned, are the 



70 

faithful housewives and cooks who prepare these ar- 
ticles of food to be eaten. Their prescriptions can be 
taken in moderation with perfect safety. 

11. Every person has, under the Constitution of the 
land, the same inherent right to go to a drug store and 
buy what he wants in the line of medicine, that he has 
to go to a grocery and purchase what he wants for food. 
The prescription of a physician, expressed in Hog 
Latin, is needed no more in the one case than in the 
other. 

12. A large part of the human family dig their own 
graves with their teeth. They eat ichat they ought 
not ; thefy eat when they ought not; they eat more 
than they ought; and then expect some doctor with 
his poisonous medicine to keep them in health. The 
Lord is not performing such unreasonable miracles. 

13. The Allopathic doctors resemble saloon keepers 
in this respect : They create diseases, and then try to 
minister to the diseases they have created. 

14. The Botanical practice of medicine is the oldest 
in the world. Ever since creation was completed, ve- 
getables and herbs have grown, and they have been 
used by man and beast as means of curing or preven- 
ting disease. Allopaths and their allies are deserters 
and apostates from this ancient faith. They are the 
prodigals who have gone away to waste their substance 
in riotous living. If they are tired of living in want 
and misery, let them return to their father's house and 
partake of the fatted calf. They will be welcome if 



71 

they come to themselves and return in the proper 
manner. 

15. Dogs and cats are botanical in their practice of 
medicine. When they become sick, instead of using 
potash or mercury as the Allopaths do when they at- 
tempt to cure diphtheria, they eat the grass adapted 
to their needs and are made well at once. 

16. Inasmuch as no medicines of a poisonous nature 
should ever be used by patients, druggists ought to 
be permitted to sell any goods they keep without pre- 
scription from any one. They only should be held 
responsible for their sales. 

17. If drug stores were all destroyed, the Allopathic 
doctors would be unable to practice medicine. 
They prescribe simply as they learned from the books, 
and having no infallible remedies of their own, would 
be compelled to cease their practice. It might, how- 
ever, be a great blessing to the people. 

18. A person has, under the Constitution, just as 
good right to choose the kind of physician and the 
character of the medicines he will use in his family as 
he has to select his preacher and church to minister 
to their spiritual wants. No school of medicine or 
ring of doctors has more right to a monopoly of privi- 
leges, under the law, than has any sect or clique of 
ministers in religion. 

19. Any system of medical practice that must be 
bolstered up and supported by the law shows on its 
face that it is a fraud, a damnable fraud upon the com- 
munity. Truth and justice need no such props. 



72 

20. The most truthful and appropriate burial certi- 
ficate that could be given for the thousands of victims 
annually sent to premature graves under the practice 
of the Allopathic doctors is the following : Died 
for the Want of proper Food, Proper Medicine and 
Proper Care. 

21. The craze of the Allopathic doctors all over this 
country in this year of grace, 1895, touching Anti-toxine 
as a supposed cure for Diphtheria is not founded on 
reason. The blood of a horse cannot be used success- 
fully in curing any sort of disease in man. The resort 
to it now is' a confession that they have had no remedy 
hitherto. If they fail, as Botanists claim they will, 
then what will they resort to next ? Will they come 
to the safe and infallible remedies used by the Bo- 
tanists ? 

22. Vaccination is another gigantic fraud perpe- 
trated by the Allopathic doctors. It introduces poison 
into the system and produces untold suffering and harm 
to the innocent and healthy, and is, in no sense, a pre- 
ventive of small-pox. It is false in theory, injurious 
in its effects, expensive to all and beneficial to none, ex- 
cept to those who make money out of the practice. Let 
the people carefully note this. 

23. During the great small-pox "scare" in Wash- 
ington in the year 1894, greater harm and expense 
resulted to the people from vaccination than from all 
the genuine cases of small-pox in the city since it was 
laid out. We Botanic physicians found no cases of 
geniune small-pox except such as resulted from vac- 



73 

cination. Twenty or thirty of such cases were suc- 
cessfully cured by us without subjecting them to the 
unutterable horrors of the pesthouse and without leav- 
ing any pits or marks of the disease. Many other 
forms of sickness resulting from such terrible vaccina- 
tion were cured by us, during the same period, with- 
out leaving any evil results. The Botanical doctors 
were then and are always opposed to vaccination, on 
fundamental principles. 

24. There are but two regular medical armies in 
existence, the Botanists who are the original, and the 
Allopaths, who seceded from them. All others are 
simply allies of Allopaths. 

25. One feature of Dr. Starr's life is that whenever 
he meets a farmer coming to the city, with his wagon 
load of produce, he invariably takes off his hat to bid 
him a cordial welcome. He was never known to tip 
his hat to any other class of beings except ladies. 

26. The greatest man in the world is the one who 
raises the most grain to feed mankind. 

The greatest woman in the world is the one who 
raises the most children. 

The greatest friend to the working man is the man 
who employs the most of them. 

The wisest man in the world is the man who takes 
best care of his health every day. 

The wisest man in business is the man who saves 
what he makes and earns. 

The greatest fool in the world is the man who works 
the hardest all the week and spends all his money on 



74 

Saturday and Sunday and goes to work penniless and 
sick on Monday. 

Every body ought to go to bed when the sun goes 
down, and rise with the sun in the morning; this is 
Nature's Law since the beginning of the world. 

The man who lives nearest to the Laws of Nature 
will naturally live the longest. 

The man who violates the laws of nature, sins against 
his own flesh. 

A boy who smokes and chews tobacco before he is 
sixteen years of age will never grow to his normal size 
in body or strength, nor will he live his normal days 
out. 

Every thing you eat, drink, smoke, or chew is either 
a benefit or an injury to you. Examine this yourself 
and you will find it only too true. 

27. Every farmer in the world is a botanist, a botanical 
doctor. They support and feed the whole people and 
the people can't live a single week without the farmer's 
products, neither can business of any kind go on with- 
out these products. In fact the farmer is the supporter 
of the whole world. 

If the farmers were to fail and stop, all would stop. 
There would be no use for doctors then to give 
poison medicines to vegetable bodies and destroy them 
that way. Is not farmonian and botanian principles 
the fundamental principles of all medicines? 

28. I say there is nothng on earth to make perfect 
medicine from outside the vegetable kingdom; nor is 
there anything to sustain life outside the farmers pro^ 



75 

ducts; both of which go together, first, last and all the 
time. 

29. Poison is good for rats, mice, flies, wolves and 
sheep killing dogs or something like these, but not for 
children, men or women. 

30. Never drink more than a wine glass of ice 
water at a time and not more frequent than once in 
half an hour, nor more than a glass of any water at a 
time. 

Never eat as much at a time as you could, always 
eat a little less. 

Never over work yourself. 

Never stand, sit or lie in a draft when you are over- 
heated. 

Boys and girls should eat but very little or no pickle 
and very little lemon. What you eat, often makes 
you sick, eat healthy food only, protect your stomach 
and you will protect your health and prolong your life. 

31. I say the people have a right to go to a dry 
goods house and buy what they want or go to a grocery 
store and buy what they want or go to a drug store 
and buy what they want. Use their own judgment as 
to what they want or what they need. Know ye thy- 
self, be ye wise. 

32. The Allopathic idea that the way to cure one dis- 
else is to create another'of a different sort, and that 
therefore the most powerful poisons are the most po- 
tent medicines, may claim that its system is sound 
in theory and successful in practice. This is a gig- 
antic mistake. 



76 

LAW-CASES. 



In Winchester, Va., the Medical Association of 
Virginia, which is composed of Allopathic and Homeo- 
pathic doctors made a bitter war against Dr. W. J. 
Whitlock; some 25 criminal indictments were found 
against him for violating their laws. The court de- 
cided against them; they carried the cases to a higher 
court, which also did give a decision against them. 

So my dear readers you can see that between 25 and 
30 cases were decided against the Allopathic and 
Homeopathic doctors in the court at Frederick, a 
court of superior jurisdiction. 

Dr. W. J. Whitlock is the most successful doctor 
in Virginia, he uses Nature's remedies only, and that 
was his crime. 

So you can sec that the Medical Board in that and 
in other states have a dead elephant on their hands. 
But like a drowning man, they hang on to these mean, 
obnoxious, tyrannical, inhuman, unjust, uncivilized, 
unchristianized, unneighborly, unmanly, unprofes- 
sional, ungodly, unconstitutional, barbarous laws. 

They want to examine all doctors who do not agree 
with them. 

They want to rule them out. 

They want to compel the people to employ them, 
and them only. 

Only 13,525 more deaths than births in the city of 
Washington, D. C, in 10 years, 28,525 more deaths 
than should have been in 10 years under their medical 
charge. 



77 

NOTICE. 

We, the Botanical Schools, the first and oldest in 
the world, are opposed to any epidemic Hospital, as 
is now proposed to be located in this City. If a doctor 
cannot cure his patients at home, he cannot euro them 
in such a filthy place as that is, it is all a fraud and 
an imposition on the people. In Corea there are man 
eaters, they live in caves, they go to the towns in 
gangs, each one taking a human body back to their 
caves for them to eat. Our doctors also want a cave 
to drag in their victims, they are worse than the man 
eaters. We have a dog pen in this City much more 
liberal than the human pen, you can go and see your 
dog while he is in that pen, but if they get your child 
in this human pen, you cannot even go to see it. 
This is tyranny of the lowest type. 



They Must Practice What They Preach. 

If a doctor finds a case of contageous disease and 
examines it, Doctor and patient must both go to the 
epidemic hospital and stay there at least 40 days, if 
the doctor refuses to go, he must go to jail 40 days 
for disobeying his own rules. What is sause for the 
goose is gravy for the gander. 



Diphtheria is not epidemic, it is only a bad cold and 
is easy cured. Grown people expectorate the phelm, 
which children cannot do; this is the only difference 
among old and young from such causes. 



78 

TAKE NOTICE. 

I protest against vaccination for small-pox- I pro 
test against Anti-toxine for Diphtheria. I protest 
against placing flags on people's houses for any disease, 
as it is dishonest and destructive to people's business. 

I am opposed to taking children from their homes 
when sick, as they can be nursed more properly at 
home, by the mother; all these schemes have been 
hatched out by the Allopathic doctors since they 
seceded from our school 267 years ago. 

No Botanical doctor has ever placed a card or flag 
on a house where they had a patient, and they never 
will; they were the first doctors in the world, and 
will be the last, they began when the first grass com- 
menced to grow. 

Dr. Wm. M. Starr, 
President of the Botanical School of the U. S. 



Smoking and Chewing against the Laws of 
Nature. 

Boys and young men who smoke or chew are spitting 
away the saliva that is placed in their system, to assist 
in the digestion of the food, which you need to live; every 
ounce you spit away unnecessary is equal to the loss of 
an ounce of blood from your system, it is a violation of 
the very laws, that gives you life. Boys, take this in con- 
sideration and follow my advise, leave off: smoking and 
chewing before it is too late; it is not alone unhealthy and 
against the laws of Nature, it is also a filthy habit, and 
should not be fostered. 

Dr. W. M. Starr 



79 

PUFMTY. 

Any man who claims to be a doctor, a healer of the 
sick, should be a totaly temperate man in every respect, 
a teacher of good morals and a good adviser; he should 
not even smoke or chew tobacco, and not consent it to 
be used by any person near or in the sick chamber; 
he should teach to use healthy food and drinks, good 
hours and morals, teach people how to keep healthy 
and in every possible way to make it plain for the 
people to understand, as life is too precious to be 
tampered with. Every doctor should be a clear 
minded and scientific man, in every respect, and not 
undertake any case of sickness, unless he understands 
it perfectly, and has a cure for it, without guessing at 
it, or without waiting two or three days to find out 
what the disease is. 



Tight Lacing is against the Laws of Nature. 

Nature has placed protecting bones around the vital 
parts of the human body, known as the ribs, these bones 
are very essential to keep the body from shrinking or cav- 
ing in against the heart, lungs and liver. By tight lac- 
ing you press the bones against your vital parts, which 
bones God placed around them for your own good and 
health. 80 many young woman have by tight lacing 
shortened their life to satisfy vanity, it invariably in- 
jures the health and very often causes death. Mothers 
should guard against it, if they wish to see their daugh- 
ters to grow up to be healthy woman. 

Dr. Wm, M. Starr. 



80 

A WORD TO 'PARENTS. 

As soon as a child is three or four weeks old feed it 
with everything that agrees with its mother; what the 
mother eats makes milk and likewise will agree with 
the baby. If the mother has no milk for her baby 
have a milk cow fed on corn-meal, wheat, fodder and 
timothy hay, and a few potatoes, twice a day; then 
feed the baby on the cow's milk and you will have 
fat and healthy children. 

Feed your children with a spoon or cup, not a bottle 
or tube. Don't toss your baby up and down but when 
they get tired lying in one position turn them over; 
they ought to be turned over often. Don't hug your 
children while their bones are soft and tender. 



Take Notice. 

No charges made for Consultation, Examinations or 
Prescriptions. The only payment required is cash for me- 
dicines, which is reasonable. 

Dr. WM. M. STAKE, 
709 G St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 



Any Doctor who inserts horse blood or what they 
call Anti-toxine in a child's vein under 21 years of age, 
ought to be sent to the penitentiary for one year; if 
the patient is over 21 years, he and the doctor should 
be sent to the Reform school for one year each. ' ' What 
fools we mortals be." 



81 
IMPORTANT. 

My Medicines for Diphtheria, Measles, Scarlet 
Fever and Cholera Infantum should always be kept 
on hand in every family living at a distance from Wash- 
ington, as they are at all times a sure and never failing 
cure, and saves calling in an Allopathic doctor and there- 
by save the life of the patient, and keep your house 
from being covered with yellow flags and placards. 

Dr. WM. M. STAKE, 
709 G St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 



Read and Reflect. 

In the greater part of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
Alabama, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Missouri, 
West Virginia. Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana 
and some other States Allopathic doctors cannot make a 
living from their profession for the reason that the people 
use Nature's own remedies for their medicine, such as 
Boneset, Ginseng, Snake roots, Sassafras, Cherry and 
Haw wood, Golden Rod, Golden Seal, Spice wood, May- 
Apple, Life everlasting, and many other roots and herbs 
too numerous to mention, all Nature's Cures and Re- 
medies. In the above named States where the people use 
Nature's own Cure the mortality is less, and the births 
larger by 63 per cent. Now look at the figures in this 
city and you will see that the people in the above described 
sections of the country are better doctors, showing a dif- 
ference of 138 percent, in their favor, compared with this 
city, and yet they have never asked for any dishonest laws 
to protect them, as the Allopaths have been doing all over 
the Union, 



82 

FRIDAY HAPPENINGS. 



Washington born on Friday. 

Queen Victoria married on Friday. 

Napoleon Bonaparte born on Friday 

Battle of Bunker Hill fought on Friday. 

America discovered on Friday. 

Mayflower landed on Friday. 

Joan of Arc burned at the stake on Friday 

Battle of Waterloo fought on Friday. 

Bastille destroyed on Friday. 

Declaration of Independence signed on Friday 

Battle of Marengo fought on Friday. 

Julius Caesar assassinated on Friday. 

Moscow burned on Friday. 

Shakespeare born on Friday. 

King Charles I beheaded on Friday. 

Battle of New Orleans fought on Friday. 

Lincoln assassinated on Friday. . 



Every Allopathic doctor who goes to a patient and 
finds him affected with Diphtheria must at once be 
tagged "Danger, I have been exposed to epitemic 
diseases," and must wear it 40 days for public safety. 

Dr. Starr. 



If a man strike another, inflicting an injury from 
which he dies in ten or fifteen days, he is indicted for 
murder in either the first or second degree. What should 
be done to him if he should give medicine from which the 
patient dies within the same period V 



83 



Death of Secretary W. Q. Gresham, 

To be Carefully read and closely considered. 



Secretary W. Q. Cresham was taken ill May 1st, 1895, 
and died on the 28th of same month. During the last ten 
hours of his life the physicians gave him strychnine, 
nitroglycerine and digitalis, and finally injected a pint 
and a half of salt-water into his veins.— Washington 
Times of May 28th, 1895. 



Would not any one of these three remedies be sufficient 
to destroy the life of a healthy person. What could be 
expected of them combined in case of a sick man ? 

Queries 1. If an ordinary man should have struck the 
Secretary with a club and produced a like effect, what 
would have been done with him ? 

2. If such ordinary man had given the Secretary 
"Rough on Rats," what would have been done with him V 

3. When will the people learn that poison is just as 
destructive when given by a so-called "regular" physic- 
ian, as when given by any ordinary person ? 

4. Will poison that does not sustain life in health sus- 
tain it in sickness V 

5. What killed Secretary Gresham ? 

6. Are such poisons safe to be trusted in sickness ? 



Address all orders for 
Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, Measles and Cholera 

Infantum Cures 
with the price for the medicine enclosed, to 

Dr. WM. M. STARR, 
709 G st., N". W., Washington, D. C. 



84 

Important Questions. 



What is man ? * 

What is Life ? What sustains it ? 

What causes disease ? What will prevent it ? 

How ought we to eat or drink ? 

How ought we to exercise ? 

How ought we to sleep and at what hour ? 

If I get sick, what shall I do ? 

Can't I tell what is wrong? Why not? Don't you 
know ? 

Why do I eat or drink too much ? 

Why do I not watch myself closer ? 

Why do I not take better care of myself ? 

Why do boys smoke or chew tobacco ? 

Why do men drink whiskey and beer? 

Why do girls lace tight ? 

Were you once in good health ? Did you lose it ? 

How did you lose it ? 

What is gravitation ? 

What is evaporation ? 

Does gravitation ever lose its hold? 

What are Nature's laws? 

Can you avoid them ? 

Will it pay to be careful of how and what we eat or 
drink ? 

Will a medicine which will not cure by itself, aid an- 
other medicine which also will not cure a disease ? 

Why does a doctor assume to cure a disease for which 
he has no sure cure ? 

Why does he continually change his medicines ? 

Why does he not give up the case if he finds he cannot 
cure it ? 

Would it not be better to let the patient die a natural 
death than to apply u heroic remedies to kill or cure ?" 



85 



CHAPTER IX. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



Birth on Historic-battlefield. — Ancestors a Heal- 
thy, Long-lived Race, Noted for Devotion to 
Medical Botany. — Removal to Western Reserve. 
— William a Physician at 12 Years of Age. — 
Cure of Typhoid Fever. — Names of Herbs in 
Mahoning County. — Episode with the Wild 
Hogs. — Killing of the Huge Panther. — Capture 
of a Cub-bear. — Trip to Wisconsin in 1844. — 
Cure of Milk Sickness. — Soldier in the Mexican 
War. — Student in the Medical College of New 
Orleans. — Scene at the Boarding House. Con- 
flict with the Faculty. — The Vegetarian Scores 
a Decided Victory. -Extensive Travels in Search 
of Botanical Knowledgf. — Location in Washing- 
ton since 1876. — Extensive Sale of Medicines. 
Philanthropic Practice. 



On the ground made sacred by the terrific battles of 
July 21, 1861 and August 29 and 30, 1862, popularly 
known as the First and the Second Battle of Bull 
Run, in Prince William County, Virginia, was born, 
on the 14th of October, 1810, William Martin Starr, 
second child of Henry and Sarah Wesley Starr. 



86 

His ancestors afford an interesting and instructive 
history. His father, Henry, was born on the James 
river and was of German-English descent. . He was 
the son of Adam and Mary (Wagner) Starr, the former 
coming from England; the latter from Germany. 
Adam was a Botanic physician and lived to the ad- 
vanced age of 99 years. His father, Dr. Starr's great 
grandfather, lived to be 144 years of age, and was 
likewise a physician in the School of Medical Botany. 

In fact, all the Starrs as far as the records can be 
traced, were honest, industrious, frugal people noted 
for their longevity, their devotion to the principles of 
Medical Botany and their consecration to philanthro- 
pic and reform principles in the science of health. 

On the maternal side the Doctor traces his an- 
cestry to the Wesleys, his mother being a great niece 
of John and Charles Wesley. The English and Ger- 
man stock commingled when religious persecution in 
the last Century drove many English people into Ger- 
many where the resulting friendship gradually ripened 
into matrimonial bonds. 

It has been stated that the Doctors' ancestors were 
reared in the medical profession, not in that of the 
Allopaths, but in that of the ancient order of 
Medical Botanists. For six generations the heads of 
families were practicing Botanists, the females being 
midwives. One of this number, Mary (Wagner) 
Starr, the doctor's grandmother, followed her vocation 
for more than seventy-five years. She reared twenty- 
one children of her own, her death occuring when 



85 



CHAPTER IX. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



Birth on Historic-battlefield. — Ancestors a Heal- 
thy, Long-lived Race, Noted for Devotion to 
Medical Botany. — Removal to Western Reserve. 
— William a Physician at 12 Years of Age. — 
Cure of Typhoid Fever. — Names of Herbs in 
Mahoning County. — Episode with the Wild 
Hogs. — Killing of the Huge Panther. — Capture 
of a Cub-bear. — Trip to Wisconsin in 1844. — 
Cure of Milk Sickness. — Soldier in the Mexican 
War. — Student in the Medical College of New 
Orleans. — Scene at the Boarding House. Con- 
flict with the Faculty. — The Vegetarian Scores 
a Decided Victory. -Extensive Travels in Search 
of Botanical Knowledgf. — Location in Washing- 
ton since 1876. — Extensive Sale of Medicines. 
Philanthropic Practice. 



On the ground made sacred by the terrific battles of 
July 21, 1861 and August 29 and 30, 1862, popularly 
known as the First and the Second Battle of Bull 
Run, in Prince William County, Virginia, was born, 
on the 14th of October, 1810, William Martin Starr, 
second child of Henry and Sarah Wesley Starr. 



86 

His ancestors afford an interesting and instructive 
history. His father, Henry, was born on the James 
river and was of German-English descent. . He was 
the son of Adam and Mary (Wagner) Starr, the former 
coming from England; the latter from Germany. 
Adam was a Botanic physician and lived to the ad- 
vanced age of 99 years. His father, Dr. Starr's great 
grandfather, lived to be 144 years of age, and was 
likewise a physician in the School of Medical Botany. 

In fact, all the Starrs as far as the records can be 
traced, were honest, industrious, frugal people noted 
for their longevity, their devotion to the principles of 
Medical Botany and their consecration to philanthro- 
pic and reform principles in the science of health. 

On the maternal side the Doctor traces his an- 
cestry to the Wesleys, his mother being a great niece 
of John and Charles Wesley. The English and Ger- 
man stock commingled when religious persecution in 
the last Century drove many English people into Ger- 
many where the resulting friendship gradually ripened 
into matrimonial bonds. 

It has been stated that the Doctors' ancestors were 
reared in the medical profession, not in that of the 
Allopaths, but in that of the ancient order of 
Medical Botanists. For six generations the heads of 
families were practicing Botanists, the females being 
midwives. One of this number, Mary (Wagner) 
Starr, the doctor's grandmother, followed her vocation 
for more than seventy-five years. She reared twenty- 
one children of her own, her death occuring when 



89 

eluded to make his fortune farther west. He went 
with a cousin to Wisconsin. While they were wend- 
ing their way along the road through praries and 
dense forests, they were both taken ill of that terrible 
disorder known as "milk sickness. " There was 
neither doctor to prescribe nor a modern drug store to 
furnish the medicine. With characteristic presence of 
mind, William went into the forest and found the 
vegetable which served as an infallible cure. Both 
took the herb he recommended and were soon able to 
resume their journey, sound and happy. Nature's 
own remedies then, as now, were sufficient for every 
emergency. 

We pass, without further notice, his life on the 
frontier; nor can we halt to speak, in detail, of his 
part in the Mexican War. That conflict over, we find 
William Starr in 1847, at the age of 37, in the city of 
New Orleans, a student in the Medical College of that 
City. His entrance fee of $300 was cheerfully paid, 
and he was under the professional instruction of a 
faculty consisting of Cartright, Stose and Hunt. His 
object was not to yield the theory of Medical Botany 
inherited from his ancestors, but to ascertain whether 
a medical school of recognized standing had a correct 
theory of disease and a safe and infallible remedy to 
apply in every case. 

At his boarding house, where some fifteen or more 
students were located, he made one day this remark : 
"The practice of medicine is simple guess work, the 



90 

doctor neither knowing what ails his patient nor hav- 
ing a positive remedy to give " 

It was a bomb in the camp, and became the subject 
of earnest discussion among the future advocates of 
the healing art. Nor did it stop here. It was re- 
ported to the Faculty. The bold, defiant sprig of the 
healing art was summoned to appear forthwith before 
the Faculty, and receive merited punishment for his 
irreverent attitude toward that venerable body 

The Faculty was represented by able counsel and 
the vegetarian was asked whether he was likewise 
provided. He replied that he would represent his 
own case. 

The day for trial came. Faculty, students and citi- 
zens filled every available seat in the hall and gal- 
leries. The criminal was given his place near the 
majestic Faculty. When asked whether he was ready 
for trial. Starr replied : " Yes, gentlemen, after you 
have fairly answered a few simple questions which I 
desire to submit to you." 

" Certainly," said the President of the Faculty, we 
can easily answer any questions you may be able to ask. " 

Starr. — li This is the Medical College of New 
Orleans?" 

President, — il Yes, sir." 

Starr. — " Are you gentlemen the Faculty of the 
college? 

President. — "Yes, sir." 

Starr. — "Then of course you practice medicine, 
and visit the sick ? " 



91 

President. — "Certainly, we do." 

Starr. — " Have you ever been called to see ill young 
patients and had some of them to die while you were 
attending them ? " 

President. — "Yes, sir." 

Starr. — "Will you swear, then, in the presence of 
this audience, that you knew without any doubt what- 
ever, just what ailed the patients and just exactly what 
medicine to give for the ailments of said patients, and 
yet many of them died in your hands." 

President. — u That is not a fair question, sir." 

Starr. — "I insist it is a fair question, and want it 
answered." 

President. — (Looking at his watch) "It is time to 
attend to other important duties. We will attend to 
your case some other time." 

Starr. — " Then I am right. In the Allopathic 
School the Practice of Medicine is all guesswork, 
based on Conjecture. There is no Science in it. It 
is only a Business." 

The trial was never resumed. The Botanical phy- 
sician received the applause of the students and the 
occupants of the galleries. He was plainly victorious 
in this ill-advised prosecution, and scored a strong point 
for his favorite theory that Ordinary Medical Prac- 
tice is a Hap-hazard, Matter-of-Chance Affair. 

No further questions were propounded to Starr. 
He had his own way in the future, and at the expira- 
tion of the second course of lectures was given his 



92 

credentials to practice medicine with the sanction of a 
regular school. 

A volume would be required to record Dr. Starr's 
subsequent experiences in California during the gold 
fever of 1849 and later; of his trials during and sub- 
sequent to the war of the Rebellion; and of his tra- 
vels and experiments through every State and Terri- 
tory of this Union, and the divisions of Mexico, Cen- 
tral America and a portion of South America. A for- 
tune has been expended by him in studying the med- 
icinal properties of plants of the American continent. 
His knowledge has been acquired in Nature's great 
laboratory, and not from the musty and unreliable 
books that have come down from the modern school of 
Medicine, from Nature's own remedies, safe, reliable 
and nutritious, he has selected those which are for 
the healing of the nations. 

Since the autumn of 1876 he has been a resident of 
Washington, D. C. His medicines have been pre- 
pared by his own skillful hand from herbs collected 
from the fields and forests of Maryland and Virginia. 
These medicines have been sold from ocean to ocean, 
and from the lakes to the gulf. They have injured 
none. They have cured thousands. 

He has been a student of nature, and from her 
boundless resources has collected the herbs which 
are not only nutritious but curative in their character. 
Helpless infants and feeble old age, brawny laborer 
and famous statesman, untutored rustic and eloquent 
divine, toiling working maid and richly clad lady, all, 



93 

black and white, have been blessed and cured by him. 
His labors have been in the interests of oppressed and 
struggling humanity. His conflicts have all been 
waged for justice and the rights of the masses. Im- 
partial history will accord him a rightful place in the 
list of true medical reformers. 

Several little incidents of his pioneer life are related 
in the following sketch. 

The Starrs were all employed in the healing art 
while engaged in pursuing their ordinary callings. 
Their medicines were the herbs which the new country 
afforded in rich abundance. Sassafras, Spicewood, 
Mayapple, Boneset, Spikenard, Indian Turnip, Wahoo, 
Haw, Ginseng, Bloodroot, Dandelion, Wild Cherry, 
Dog-wood, Slippery Elm, Tansy, Jimson, and the hun- 
dreds of other herbs and vegetable forms were safe re- 
medies when skillfully used. Sickness was not fatal and 
deaths among children were very rare. Drug stores 
with their modern supplies were unknown. Nature in 
her crude state furnished all medicinal wants. 

Game was abundant. Every forest was supplied 
with bear, deer, wolves, panthers, turkeys, and squir- 
rels; and the streams were full of excellent fish. 

The woods were filled with hogs which lived upon 
acorns and nuts. In fact, it was unnecessary then, as 
now, to put these animals into sties. They lived upon 
nuts in the woods, and as a result became wild and in 
some cases dangerous. At the age of fourteen, Wil- 
liam went with his father and uncle to what was known 
as " Chestnut Ridge," southeast of the Mahoning 



94 

River, in the edge of the [town subsequently called 
Goshen. The ridge was infested with wild hogs. The 
eompany went with a two-horse wagon, and a good 
supply of ammunition. They also took saddles and an 
ax with them, the former to be used in riding the 
horses through the woods in quest of deer. When 
the ridge was reached the two men took the horses and 
their guns and started in quest of their game, leaving 
the boy and a little dog, "Penny," to take care of the 
wagon. 

While the hunters were absent, wild hogs pursued 
the dog to the wagon and compelled him to seek re- 
fuge in it with the boy. The infuriated animals were 
so bold that they endeavored to have access to both 
by climbing upon the hubs and tongue with their fore- 
feet. With the same composure that has ever since 
characterized William, he took his ax, and as the ani- 
mals reared themselves struck them a heavy blow with 
the edge across the forehead, resulting in certain death. 
This operation continued, in rapid succession, until 
five of the porkers had fallen victims to his unerring 
blows. Others would have met the same fate had the 
little dog remained in front instead hiding" behind 
his youthful master. When the two hunters returned 
bearing one deer as the result of their faithful search 
for hours, they were gratified to find five porkers averag- 
ing quite three hundred pounds each, lying prostrate 
on the ground. Thrown into the wagon and drawn 
home, they afforded with the deer a full supply of 
meat for the winter. 



95 

About eight years subsequent to the event just re- 
lated, William, then a young man, had another quite 
startling experience. A large animal, the terror of 
the region round about, infested a tamarack swamp in 
Atwater township about eighteen miles west of the 
Starr settlement. For years it lived in the swamp, 
but would sally forth and devour the sheep for miles 
around. People were afraid of the beast. 

William finally conceived the idea of killing the 
creature. He had made for the occasion a gun of his 
own liking. It was long and heavy and furnished 
with a trusty flint-lock. Waiting for a good tracking 
snow to fall, he was confident that he would be able 
to solve the problem. He determined to go alone. 
The proper time ultimately arrived, and the modern 
Nimrod started on his expedition. The first day he 
simply discovered tracks of the animal. Night com- 
ing on, he tarried with a farmer named Wolley. The 
next morning early he resumed his chase along the 
trail. In due time he found where the animal had 
slept for the night. He was encouraged. The pur- 
suit was eagerly continued. Finally sight of the crea- 
ture was had. The animal was in motion. A shot was 
aimed at its heart; but from the appearance of hair 
and blood upon the snow, as well as from the leaps 
made, it was clear the ball had struck the creature in 
the flank. No further sight of the animal was had 
that day, though the chase was continued for many 
miles. 

William sought shelter at a farmhouse for another 



96 



night. The next morning he resumed the spirited 
chase, this time with a thorough conviction that the 
first shot would finally prove fatal. Pursuing the 




The Panter Sighted. 

huge animal, William was, at length, rewarded with 
the opportunity to test his piece again. This shot was 
more successful. It passed through the heart. As 
he approached the creatureit gave pitiful moans and 
seemed to ask protection at the hands of its slayer. The 



97 

work was finished. The animal was a panther, three 
feet high, seven feet two inches long from the end of 
the tail to the' tip of the nose, and weighed about three 
hundred pounds. The skin was subsequently sold in 
Ravenna for $21, that being the aggregate bounty 
offered for the destructive and greatlj feared beast of 
the forest. 

William Starr was feted in the community because 
of his great achievement. During the remainder of 
his residence in that region, which continued until the 
autumn of 1844, he was considered a great farmer and 
skillful marksman. Whenever great skill in shoot- 
ing was to be exhibited he was selected as the un- 
doubted champion. 

Another incident of thrilling interest occurred bet- 
ween those narrated. It was that of William's exper- 
ience in capturing a two-third grown bear in the dense 
forest. 

It was the boy's practice to carry either a gun or a 
strong hickory club when perambulating the wild 
forests. On the occasion in question he had his trusty 
club. Going through some dense underbrush he came 
suddenly upon young bruin. The animal was startled 
by the sudden appearance of the intruder, and gave 
an expression of surprise. With the intuition which 
always enabled him to do the right thing at the right 
time, and, thoroughly understanding the nature of this 
animal, which was the keynote of his subsequent suc- 
cess, he determined to capture the creature and take it 
home. He seized bruin, and a struggle for supremacy 



ensued. The boy conquered. He did not use the 
club, but instead boxed the cheeks of the bear and 
1 ' beat it into subjection. " Bruin dropped its head and 
squealed in token of complete surrender. 

Now came the greater problem. The surrender oc- 
curred in the dense forest, four miles from home. 
Seizing the animal's paw, the young hunter compelled 
the captive to walk on its hind feet; and any hesitancy 
of tardiness was punished by a cuff with the hand or 
a stroke with a switch. Sometimes the boy would 
walk backward and be followed by his captive, thus 
affording a good opportunity for the cultivation of a 
closer friendship. Home was finally reached. Imagine 
the surprise of relatives and friends to see how Wil- 
liam had captured and brought in unhurt a half-grown 
black she bear. They were gratified as much as he, 
and an uncle, John Glass, who furnished animals for 
an Eastern menagerie, offered the boy ten silver dollars 
for the animal. The proposition was accepted, and 
the two friends whose acquaintanceship began in a 
struggle in the woods for the mastery were separated 
forever. Bruin was taken to New York, and the boy 
turned his attention to other and higher fields of con- 
quest. 



* * * 



99 



Babyalogy. 

Mother : Hush, Baby, it's cry, cry. 

Baby : My mouth is so fresh. 

Mother: Hush, baby, hush. 

Baby : I smell something good, I want some of it. 

Mother : Hand me the bottle, put some of one cow's 
milk and half water in it, just as the doctor directed. 

Baby : I don't want that mixture, I want pure milk, 
a little bread in it and a little of what I smell, chewed 
fine. 

Mother : Hush, baby, here is your prepared milk. 

Baby : Potomac water and a little one cow's milk 
in it. Does not one and one make two? Then Poto- 
mas water is one, one cow's milk is one, which makes 
two, give me milk from two cows and leave out the 
poisonous Potomac water. The Potomac river has 
thirty-two branches, all have different kind of water, 
now add one cow's milk to thirty-two kinds of water, 
baby will soon be too weak to cry, then the doctor 
will say, baby is better, yes, it lays very quiet to- 
day. 

Doctor: You can add a little more water in it's 
milk. 



100 



Mother: Hush, baby, you always cry when I am 
getting dinner, hush, or I smack you. 

Baby: Mother, I smell something good cooking, 
please give me just a little, I am almost starved for 
something to eat, my mouth is so fresh, mother I wish 
you could only understand me when I cry, it is the 
only way I have to ask for anything. 

0, mother, can't you understand me and give me 
just a little of them good things I smell on the table, 
I am nearly starved. 

Mother, when you pay our doctor, pay him half 
water and half money. I will not die from milk, but 
for the want of richer milk with bread, meats, pota- 
toes, chewed fine for me. 



Every young woman from 16 to 26 years ought to 
take notice of the following questions. 
Can a baby smell and taste ? 
Do they know when they are hungry? 
How do they ask for what they want ? 
How can they tell what they want? 

Dr. W. M. STAKE. 



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BflR/aeRip. 

Farming in all its Branches. 




Botany in all its Branches. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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